Sarath Ratanavadi - Thai billionaire 'lost' and regained 98% of his assets in one night

As the head of Gulf Energy Development - one of Thailand's largest energy companies - Mr. Sarath Ratanavadi is considered one of the most successful businessmen in the region. However, this drop in assets is said to be unrelated.

Suddenly lost 98% of assets of nearly 13 billion USD in just 1 night

According to an update from Forbes on the evening of March 24 (Vietnam time), the net worth of Mr. Sarath Ratanavadi - Thai billionaire and CEO of Gulf Energy Development - has plummeted from 12.7 billion USD to a mere 246 million USD.

This 98% drop in such a short period of time immediately shocked the market, leaving investors in shoc.k.

However, on the morning of March 25, Forbes updated Mr. Sarath Ratanavadi's net worth to $12.9 billion. It is not clear why Mr. Sarath's assets fell so dramatically and then recovered so quickly.

King of Thailand

Billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi is known as the co-founder of Gulf Energy - one of Thailand's leading private power producers, established in 2011 with power projects including both traditional and renewable energy.

In 2013, a Gulf subsidiary, then run by Thaksin’s energy minister, won a bid to build gas turbines in Chonburi and Rayong provinces under state concessions. But controversy erupted when the entire contract went to one company, leaving four other companies competing for a piece of the megaproject empty-handed.

A year later, the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, was overthrown in a military coup. The new government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha launched an investigation into contracts that were seen as favoring leaders with ties to Thaksin during his sister's time in power.

“One of the reasons why rivals hat.e Sarath is that he won the bid 100%. They welcome the investigation and hope the military government will cancel the contract won by Gulf,” said a source in the Thai energy industry.

Initial investigations led to renegotiations of the contract, citing irregularities. Sarath was also summoned by the authorities, but the media attention at the time was diverted away from him, focusing instead on more prominent billionaires. After lengthy negotiations, Gulf’s contract was approved.

“Gulf won the bid in a fair and clean manner. They offered the lowest price,” said Pichai Naripthaphan, energy minister in Yingluck’s government.

That move paved the way for Gulf’s decision to go public in 2017, when it had 13 gas-fired power plants in operation. “Sarath had been preparing for this for more than 10 years. He was just waiting for the right moment,” Suwat said.

One of Sarath’s most impressive abilities was winning the support of the military government, despite his former close ties to the Shinawatras. “No one has cultivated relationships under the new government like Sarath. Not only has he kept his fortunes after the coup, he has risen through the ranks and is believed to still have a good relationship with Thaksin,” said an investment banker who asked not to be named.

Sarath frequently travels on a $70 million private jet, is known as a good golfer and loves fine wines. However, to many associates, even close friends, Sarath is extremely secretive and rarely gives press interviews.

As a result, the scale and speed of Gulf’s growth, as well as the energy tycoon’s wealth and secrets of success, remain a mystery. Only a few people trusted by Sarath, including business consultant and analyst Suwat, have access to this information.

Currently, Gulf Energy owns many power plants in 5 countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Oman, the US and Germany with a committed capacity of over 15,000 MW by 2027, including gas power, wind power, solar power...

Expanding its business outside Thailand with a series of large projects has helped Gulf Energy's revenue grow strongly. In Vietnam, Gulf Energy established its headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City in 2018.

Since then, it has invested and put into operation 2 project clusters including 2 solar power projects GTN1 (capacity 68.8 MWp) and GTN2 (capacity 50 MWp) in Tay Ninh province and is investing in a 128MW wind power project cluster in Ben Tre province. All 3 projects are in cooperation with Mr. Dang Van Thanh's TTC Group.

Up to now, Gulf Energy continues to seek investment opportunities in the LNG power sector in our country with the main target being the Northern provinces.

In early 2024, Gulf Energy expressed its desire to survey and invest in an LNG Power Center project with a capacity of 1,500 to 3,000 MW and an LNG port warehouse in Nam Dinh province, in cooperation with the Taekwang Group of Korea.

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