Ex-PM Abhisit named vice chairman, board member of consumer goods giant Sahapat

SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024
Ex-PM Abhisit named vice chairman, board member of consumer goods giant Sahapat

Former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has been appointed as a new executive board member of Sahapat Plc, Thailand’s leading manufacturer of consumer goods.

Abhisit has also been named the company’s vice chairman, replacing Boonpakorn Chokvathana, Sahapat said in a statement filed with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The document, dated January 18, said the board unanimously decided to appoint Abhisit during its meeting on the same day. The appointment is effective as of Friday (January 19).

The letter, addressed to top executives at both SET and SEC, was signed by two Sahapat board members – Vathit Chokwatana and Chailada Tantivejakul.

Vathit is the president of the executive board, while Chailada is the vice president.

A copy of the document was posted on the SET’s official website.
 

Sahapat’s executive board is dominated by members of the Chokwatana family, with Boonsithi Chokwatana serving as honorary chairman and his brother Boonchai Chokwatana serving as chairman.

The public limited company, listed on the SET, began as a small grocery store started by its late founder Thiam Chokwatana in 1942. Ten years later, he set up Saha Pathanapibul Co Ltd (SPC), the predecessor of Sahapat Plc.

Over the first nine months of last year, Sahapat earned 28.6 billion baht, up by 1.84 billion or 6.9% from the same period a year earlier. Its net profits totalled 1.44 billion baht, an increase of 22.9%.

Abhisit was Thailand’s 27th prime minister, serving from December 2008 to August 2011. He became leader of the Democrat Party, Thailand’s oldest political party, in March 2005 at the age of 41 and served until March 2019.

The Oxford-educated politician, who served as opposition leader during the tenure of four prime ministers, quit the Democrat Party in December following a tumultuous competition for the leader’s post. Abhisit had been with the party for more than three decades.

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