<article>Thailand-based<a href="http://www.cpthailand.com/" target="_blank"> Charoen Phokphand (CP) Group</a>, possibly, one of the largest agribusiness conglomerates in the world, is looking to expand it&#8217;s global foot print.</article>

Thailand-based<a href="http://www.cpthailand.com/" target="_blank"> Charoen Phokphand (CP) Group</a>, possibly, one of the largest agribusiness conglomerates in the world, is looking to expand it&#8217;s global foot print.
Although, the officials have been <a href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/cp-group-refutes-tesco-lotus-buyout-rumors/" target="_blank">refuting rumors</a> about buying out UK-based retail giant Tesco&#8217;s global operations, the group has taken an aggressive stance to expand its operations globally, saying that it plans to invest in &#8220;any potential deal&#8221; that that will support core business expansion in the world market.  
CP’s chairman Dhanin Chearavanont, is very clear about the group’s expansion strategy, which involves rather aggressive inorganic growth in the world market: “The market in this world belongs to CP. Raw materials in the world belong to CP. Talented people also belong to CP. Money in this world also belongs to CP. But it depends whether we know how to use them or not, or whether they let us in or not. Wherever on earth has a chance, there belongs to us,” said the 74-years-old tycoon while expressing the group’s vision for growth across world markets. 
Today, CP has four main companies in three core businesses, comprising Charoen Phokphand Foods Plc (agriculture and food business), True Corp (telecommunication) and CP All Plc and Siam Makro Plc (retail and wholesale business).
The group, that  began as a seed shop that was set up by Chearavanont’s father in Bangkok in 1921, became an agribusiness mammoth in less than seven decades, making inroads into sectors as diverse as automotive, IT, real estate, pharmaceutical, finance etc, apart from its agri business and food activities.
In the past two years, the company has acquired stakes in a Chinese insurance firm, Netherland-based logistics chain and might be considering a buyout of UK based retailer.
The path, though, was not smooth and one of the biggest challenges came in form of a severe financial crisis in 1997.
Tom Yum Kung Financial Crisis
In 1997, Thai government decided to float the baht, putting the CP group in a difficult situation. At that time, CP decided to keep only two core businesses &#8211; retail and telecom.
It joined hand&#8217;s with Tesco to open Lotus Supercenter, and sold its share in Makro, the wholesales business, back to its parent company in the Netherlands.
Seventeen years later, the group has not only recovered from the financial crisis, but also expanded its core businesses
China expansion: Ping An Insurance (Group) Co.
CP has become the major shareholder of Ping An, the second-largest insurance company in China by acquiring 15.57 per cent of its share from HSBC in February 2013. The deal was worth $9.4 billion.
Ping An is not only an insurance firm, but it also operates the banking, leasing, property development and asset securities, which is expected to support CP’s business growth in China and worldwide. “Information is the most important factor for doing the business. The more accurate the information is, the more chance we win. Thanks to the most advanced management system, wherever Ping An goes, the information it gets will take CP to grow there too,” said CP&#8217;s chairman.
Makro
Apart from the information, another thing this Thai tycoon wants, is to establish distribution and logistics network in order to deliver goods to the customers, directly.
The company declared spent 188.88 billion baht on acquiring 64.35 per cent of stakes in Siam Makro Plc from SHV Netherlands B.V. in April 2013.
The acquisition, that bought back the business that was sold during the financial crisis of 1997, completed the jigsaw of CP’s food supply chain. “There are a plenty of opportunities if we can develop our logistic system from B-to-B and B-C. Or even the delivery of fresh food is also a gap for us to step in,” he said.
Makro’s main clients are those grocery shops and restaurants, which are different target group of 7-Eleven. Currently, Makro has 58 branches in 50 cities, so CP can use it as distribution centers to more than 7,000 branches of 7-Eleven nationwide, and 7-Eleven will be upgraded to deliver the goods on the customers’ doors in the future. This strategies will be adopted not only in Thailand but also other countries in Southeast Asia and China.
Possible big deal of Tesco Lotus
On November 18, Reuters reported that Dhanin is considering buying back Tesco Lotus in Thailand at the price of $10 billion.
A week later, he gave the interview to local media dismissing the news as rumor. However, he sent a signal that if Tesco wanted to sell, CP would be interested.
&#8220;The Tesco stores in Thailand 9formerly known as Lotus) are some of my children and were sold from the CP Group&#8217;s portfolio in 1997 when the company faced a serious financial crisis and wanted to save its core businesses. They helped us during a difficult time, and I have a policy to help them any time they demand any assistance,&#8221; he told the media.
“We can invest (in Tesco); but I personally think that it’s not the time for Tesco to sell yet,” he said. He considered that Tesco Lotus remained strong because commercial banks are still offering it loan.
Meanwhile, people close to CP told Bangkok Post that the group would wait for Tesco’s decision. “CP considers its operation here is quite strong, it may not worthwhile to pay massive money for Tesco in Thailand only. But the operation overseas would well suit the regional expansion strategy,” they said.
In the media’s group interview, Dhanin was asked about the rumor of acquiring <a href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/cp-group-to-acquire-lh-bank/" target="_blank">LH Bank.</a> He accepted that there was a talk, but no progress so far.
“I don’t want to step into banking industry. Many of them are my close friends. We are much smaller than banks and still borrow their money. We are also not good at bank operation,” he said.
CP’s leader also emphasized that it would focus on investing in the businesses that are related to the current ones only.

Thai conglomerate CP plots global expansion

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