The Charoen Pokphand Group CP : เจริญโภคภัณฑ์; : Charoen Phokkhaphan is a Thai conglomerate based in Bangkok. It is Thailand's largest private company and one of world's largest conglomerates. It consists of three core businesses that operate in agribusiness and food, retail and distribution, and the telecommunications industries with investments in over 30 countries, employing over 300,000 people. Charoen Pokphand Group Co. เครือเจริญโภคภัณฑ์ Number of employees 300,000 Lotus Supercenter Chester Grill Restaurants Website It is the largest shareholder in the Chinese financial services corporation and a major shareholder in , a Chinese state-owned investment trust and the Japanese conglomerate. It owns controlling stakes in CPF , the world's largest producer of feed, shrimp, and a global top three producer of poultry, pork, among other agricultural produces. It also operates Southeast Asia's largest retail business by revenue, with over 10,000 Seven Eleven stores and a leading cash and carry business through Siam Makro. In the telecommunications sector, CP Group subsidiary, True Group, is one of the largest telecom firms in Southeast Asia with over 25 million mobile customers. When China opened up its economy in 1978, the CP Group was the very first foreign investor in the country and became the first foreign company registered in the special economic zone of Shenzhen, Guangdong. The company is the single largest investor in Mainland China today commanding over fifth of China's entire feed meal market. The CP Group traces its humble beginnings as a small seed shop named Chia Tai established in 1921 by Chinese brothers - Chia Exchor and Chia Seow Nooy. The shop was originally headquartered in Shantou, a seaport in China's southeastern Guangdong province, which developed a network of seed outlets with locations in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. They seeds and vegetables from and exported pigs and eggs to Hong Kong. The two brothers, who were virtually penniless managed to scrape enough seed capital to start their tiny seed shop. For the first few years of the businesses existence, the two brothers experimented incessantly to find their own market niche. By the 1950s, the shop began to specialize in exporting animal feed, particularly for chickens but the business struggled nonetheless until the 1970s when the Bangkok Bank asked it to assume control of a bankrupt chicken farm. The shop later specialized in purchasing grown chickens for distribution to grocers and restaurants with vertically integrated strategy of feed-milling operations with chicken breeding. When the Thai economy was liberalized in the 1970s, the CP group entered various business negotiations with several major Thai banks, the Thai government, and foreign firms. The CP Group would supply Thai farmers with chicks and feed and taught them how to raise chickens while the farmers would sell the grown chickens back to the CP Group which processed the bred chickens and sold them to high volume grocery stores, restaurants, and fast food franchises across Thailand. In addition, the CP Group expanded internationally exporting their contract farming formula across Southeast Asia and around the world from Mexico, Taiwan, Portugal, Mainland China, Indonesia, Turkey and the United States. By the 1980s, with Thailand becoming a full blown capitalist economy, the CP Group entered the aquaculture business, turning their formula to raise and market shrimp. The company further integrated its business to include livestock farming, marketing and distribution, under. By the 1970s, the company had a virtual monopoly on the supply of chicken and eggs in Thailand. The company was famous for expanding into several business lines, adding breeding farms, slaughterhouses, processed foods production, and, later, its own chain of restaurants. CP had also gone international, launching feedmill operations in Indonesia in 1972, exporting chickens to Japan in 1973, then moving into Singapore in 1976. In the 1980s, as Mainland China opened up to foreign direct investment, the firm became the preferred partner for international brands such as , , and. CP's family enabled it to become the first foreign company to establish itself in the newly created , where the company set up its Chia Tai Co. In 1987, the company acquired the rights for their convenience store chain and the fast food restaurant. The company would also expand in earnest into Shanghai by manufacturing motorcycles with a license from and brewing beer with a license from. In 1989, CP entered the petrochemical business with of Belgium to launch Vinythai Co. In 1990, the CP Group acquired a stake in , a joint venture with U. The CP Group also acquired interests in satellite launch, cable television, and mobile telephone services. By the early 1990s, CP had presided some 200 subsidiaries in China. CP's massive investment in poultry production on the mainland was credited with changing the country's dietary habits, as per-capita consumption more than doubled by the end of the decade. Starting in 1993, many subsidiaries went public. TA, Charoen Pokphand Feedmill, Siam Makro and Vinythai were listed publicly at the , as well as its Hong Kong subsidiary, CP Pokphand to the , a Shanghai-based animal feed and poultry group to the , a real estate development arm, Hong Kong Fortune, to the Hong Kong exchange, and Ek Chor China Motorcycle to the. Having been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1981, C. Lotus - a major retail arm of C. Group in China - opened its first store in Shanghai in 1997. After the , C. Foods , retail 7-Eleven , and telecommunications True. The company sold its stakes in the venture with in 2003 due to its crisis policy in order to focus on , in which, unlike Tesco, CP owns a majority, as its flagship retail arm. In 2013, Charoen Pokphand has got the clearance to buy 's stake of Chinese. In 2014, CP announced a tie-up with the Japanese under which CP acquired 4. This transaction made CP the third-largest shareholder in Itochu, and was marketed as an alliance between the two conglomerates with a focus on developing international food trading opportunities. Main article: Known as Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc. It was established in 1978 with operations in animal feed production, livestock breeding, further processing and trade. Currently, CPF invests overseas in nine countries, has subsidiaries in 17 countries and exports to over 40 countries. Furthermore, CPF is today the leading producer of feed and one of the largest producers of poultry in the world. It is the Thai licensee of since 1989 and operates 9,542 convenience stores under that trademark in Thailand. This is the third largest number of stores after the and. Kentucky Fried Chicken The CP Group acquired the rights to distribute the brand in 1987 and is the Thai licensee of it. The CP Group acquired the rights to distribute the convenience store in 1987. The first 7-Eleven outlet was opened in 1989 on Patpong Road in Bangkok. At the end of 2016, the company had a total of 9,542 stores nationwide. Of the total, 4,245 stores are in Bangkok and vicinity 44 percent and 5,297 stores are in provincial areas 56 percent. There are 4,205 corporate-owned stores 44 percent , 4,645 franchise stores 49 percent , and 692 sub-area license stores seven percent. An average of 11. In 2016, the company expanded another 710 new stores both as stand-alone stores and stores at PTT gas stations. At the end of 2014, the company had 8,210 stand-alone stores 86 percent and 1,332 stores in PTT gas stations 14 percent. The company has plans to open approximately 700 new stores annually, with the goal of 10,000 stores in 2017. True Corporation Main article: The Telecommunications Business Group was established during the late 1980s. Ascend Group Main article: Founded in 2014 as a spin-off of , Ascend Group handles the e-commerce, online retail, logistics and fulfillment component of CP Group. Ventures are classified under major subsidiaries: Ascend Commerce, Ascend Money and Ascend Capital, along with smaller independent ventures like TrueIDC and Egg Digital. It became Thailand's second largest IPO ever in late 2013. True Corp is True GIF's largest shareholder. Lotus Supercenter Main article: CP Lotus Corporation is a retail operation in China. Ltd Listed in Hong Kong, CPP is one of the world's largest producers of feed and one of China's leading agricultural companies with factories nationwide. Fresh Mart A Thai-based chain selling frozen foods and finished products, now with over 700 branches. Dayang Motors One of China's leading motorcycle producers , recently signed a joint venture to begin production of cars in Thailand. Its motorcycles are exported to Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa. Honda and Heineken CP moved into Shanghai, manufacturing motorcycles with a license from Japanese automaking giant and brewing beer with a license from Dutch beer brewer,. Solvay In 1989, CP entered the petrochemical business through a join venture with , one of Belgium's largest chemical firms. Wal-Mart In 1994, CP signed a joint venture agreement with American retail giant, to establish super-retail stores throughout Asia. Siam Makro Held through C. All, Siam Makro is Thailand's largest cash and carry store. Land manages several Bangkok properties including C. It is listed through C. After a several-month-long investigation, the British newspaper claimed that Charoen Pokphand CP Foods purchases , which it then feeds to its farmed prawns, from suppliers that own, operate or buy from fishing boats manned with. In January 2017, the , Northern District of California ruled on multiple grounds in favour of CP Foods in relation to litigation brought against them and others, which claimed damages related to the alleged presence of human rights abuses in the supply chain for Thai shrimp. CP Foods produces and sells farmed shrimp. It does not own or operate any fishing vessels. The company has worked to improve the traceability of the fishmeal element of its supply chain since 2012, and broadened this effort to encompass a full traceability system for its farmed shrimp supply chain in 2014. As part of that process, CP Foods has reduced the number of suppliers who provide for the production of shrimp feed. CP Foods has undertaken a full independent, third-party audit of its shrimp feed supply chain all the way back to the individual fishing boats catching fish for fishmeal production , conducted by a leading international supply chain audit company. Shrimp Sustainable Supply Chain Task Force CP Foods is a founding member of the Shrimp Sustainable Supply Chain Task Force SSSC , established in July 2014, which has convened food producers, international retailers, and NGOs to map out a holistic improvement and audit plan for the Thai shrimp industry, and to identify and agree the steps and timetable to increase the sustainability and transparency of the supply chain. The key aim of CP Foods and the SSSC is to ensure that abuse of workers and damage to the maritime ecosystem in the and is a thing of the past, and to restore trust in the industry. Archived from on 2006-08-22. Retrieved 18 December 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2018. The Bamboo Network: How Expatriate Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Creating a New Economic Superpower in Asia. The Bamboo Network: How Expatriate Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Creating a New Economic Superpower in Asia. Thailands Boom and Bust. The Bamboo Network: How Expatriate Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Creating a New Economic Superpower in Asia. The Bamboo Network: How Expatriate Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Creating a New Economic Superpower in Asia. South China Morning Post. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 June 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2017. Retrieved 2013-11-07 — via www. Retrieved 24 May 2016. Archived from on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2016. Archived from on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
