Richest Thai Sees $10 Billion Hydro, LNG Projects Driving Growth
(Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s richest person, Sarath Ratanavadi, expects $10 billion investments in hydropower projects in neighboring Laos and a new domestic liquefied natural gas terminal to drive his business empire’s growth.
Sarath’s flagship company, Gulf Development Pcl, and partners are working with banks on a roughly $9 billion funding plan for three hydro plants with total generating capacity of 3,100 megawatts, he said. Construction on a $1 billion LNG import terminal project — Thailand’s third — will start later this year before commercial operations scheduled in 2029.
“We are turning our focus more on projects in Thailand and the region because of their lower risk relative to most other overseas projects,” Sarath said in an interview at his office on Wednesday. “Our strength and profile have offered better leverage.”
Gulf Development — created earlier this year by combining Sarath’s operations in sectors including power, seaports, tollways and telecommunications — has accelerated its expansion in renewables and data centers to meet rising demand for clean energy and artificial intelligence. The company is also expanding into digital banking after being granted a license in June.
The investments in hydro and LNG will be in addition to $1.75 billion announced in March for data centers. The hydro projects will start from 2031 to 2033.
The conglomerate seeks to boost total power generating capacity by 34% over the next decade from about 9,000 megawatts currently, Sarath said. Most of that will be solar, wind and hydro in a bid to increase green energy capacity to 40% of the total from around 13% now.
The tycoon this week reclaimed his position as the nation’s richest person, with a net worth of about $13 billion, as Gulf Development’s stock has gained more than 20% since sinking to a record low in June.
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