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Royal honour: A new family name for Vichai Rakriaksorn (former surname), as head of the family that owns Thailand’s King Power Group of Companies |
THAILAND. His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand has bestowed the family name “˜Srivaddhanaprabha’ on Vichai Raksriaksorn (former surname), Group Chairman of King Power Group of Companies in Thailand and owner of UK’s Leicester City Football Club. The auspicious family name granted by His Majesty was published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette.
“It is our family’s greatest honour to receive this royally granted surname,” Vichai said. “The name “˜Srivaddhanaprabha’ conveys positive attributes to the industry and brings prosperity to our family. We have now officially changed our surname since it was published in the Royal Gazette in late 2012,” he added.
In Thailand, royally granted family names have been bestowed particularly on the Monarch’s retainers since the reign of King Vajiravudh (Rama VI, who ruled from 1910 – 1925). It is a tradition of His Majesty to grant surnames to members of the royal family, government officers, and private citizens who have contributed significantly to the good of the country.
The family and company were said to have brought the “˜Thai spirit’ abroad through their involvement in Leicester City and through their support of other Thai sports, including Thai boxing (Muay Thai).
The Srivaddhanaprabhas have also built their reputation by building the King Power business over the past 24 years.
Today, King Power Duty Free Company Limited has the concession for duty free operations at many of Thailand’s international airports: Suvarnabhumi, Don Muang (where it was recently awarded a ten-year concession), Chiangmai and Phuket.
The group also operates two downtown branches, one in central Bangkok, the other in Pattaya.
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King Power has built a powerful reputation as one of Asia’s leading travel retailers, through its downtown Bangkok (above) and airport operations (below) |
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Over the years the group has created employment for around 6,300 staff, and is an enthusiastic participant in many corporate and social responsibility programmes dealing with education, charity work, children’s health issues, sports and Thai culture.
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King Power recently won a ten-year concession at Bangkok Don Muang Airport |
About the King Power Group of Companies
King Power is the market leader in the duty and tax free business in Thailand. It has 76 outlets at both domestic and international terminals in Thailand’s major international airports: Suvarnabhumi, Chiangmai, Phuket, and recently Don Muang, and two downtown locations at King Power Complexes in Bangkok and Pattaya respectively.
King Power has received a number of national, global and industry awards in recognition of its performance over the years. These include the prestigious Superbrands Thailand Award for 2011 for the third consecutive year. Among numerous other accolades, it won the Frontier Award for Land-based Border/Downtown Retailer of the Year and Airport Retailer of the Year in 2011.
CSR Activities
The King Power Foundation was established in 2004 to benefit children’s health and education, and to provide a variety of programmes for the underprivileged in Thai society.
Sports
The company supports many sports domestically and internationally to increase the awareness of Thailand in the world community and to create opportunities for Thai children in world sport. Leicester City Football Club was taken over in 2010 with the vision to promote it from the Football League Championship to the Premier League and to pave the way for Thai youths to play in high-level football matches.
King Power has also sponsored Thai boxing in order to exhibit Muay Thai and the culture of Thai boxing competitions.
In addition, the King Power Polo Team was set up with the aim of developing the standard of polo in Thailand and to promote Thai polo on the international stage.
