The story
Founded by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in 1989, in Bangkok.1
History
King Power began in 1989, with a license granted for Thailand's first downtown duty-free shop at Mahatun Plaza. In 1995, King Power won the sole concession to operate duty-free shops at Don Mueang Airport, then Bangkok's main airport. In 1997, the government of Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh granted the company the sole right to manage duty-free business at the World Trade Centre in downtown Bangkok for 10 years. The business had previously been managed by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Some questioned whether it was contrary to Prime Minister's Office regulations regarding partnership with private business.
In 2004, the government of Thaksin Shinawatra granted King Power the right to operate duty-free shops at Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok's new main airport, for 10 years. Shortly thereafter, the company won the concession to operate duty-free shops at four major provincial airports until 2015. There was no bidding for the concessions. As of 2016 King Power operated branches at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, and Hat Yai airports. King Power's monopoly status stands in sharp contrast to the practice at other comparable international airports. For example, Incheon International Airport has twelve duty-free concessions competing for trade.
King Power received the royal warrant from the King of Thailand in December 2009. The garuda statue in front of its headquarters symbolizes that privilege.
In August 2010, following agreement on a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with King Power, Milan Mandarić sold the English football club Leicester City F.C. to a Thai-led consortium called Asian Football Investments (AFI), owned by King Power Group's Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. On 16 May 2017, Belgian First Division B team Oud-Heverlee Leuven announced that they had accepted an offer from King Power to buy the club.
In 2011, it opened the first regional store in Thailand's eastern region, opening the King Power complex in Pattaya. The following year, the business gained a new duty-free store at Don Mueang airport. Then in 2014, King Power gained an in-flight duty free concession from Thai AirAsia X and opened the first Leicester City fan store at BTS Siam Station.
In June 2016 King Power purchased a US$226 million stake in Thai AirAsia, the country's largest budget airline. The purchase of 39 percent of holding company Asia Aviation makes King Power the second largest shareholder in Thai AirAsia.
On 27 October 2018, the chairman and CEO of King Power, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, died in a helicopter crash, shortly after leaving King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City FC. An investigation into the crash by the United Kingdom's Air Accident Investigation Branch found that it was caused by mechanical failure.
2017–2022
100 football pitch & 1 million footballs
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King Power's aims to promote Thai youth's football potentiality in a comprehensive manner ranging from donate 1 million footballs to youth across Thailand, to installing an international-standard artificial grass football pitch for 100 schools and communities across Thailand within 5 years. The country's leading duty-free retailer has launched a countrywide campaign called “Sport Power” that aims to develop football skills of the children.
Fox Hunt project
King Power has been continuously contributing to Thai football with the Fox Hunt project, which gives scholarships to talented youngsters who are trained at the Leicester Football Academy in England. Other King Power football programmes include Leicester City Football Clinic and King Power Cup.
Muak Lek National training centre
In November 2019, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha have agreed to fund a new training centre for the Football Association of Thailand (FAT). King Power will cover 100 per cent of the building costs, estimated at 500 million baht. The training centre will be built on a 192,000 square-metre site in the Muak Lek District of Thailand's Saraburi province. The plans are part of the country's 20-year football development 'master plan' of the FAT. The 20-year master plan is to build national training centres across every region of Thailand (Southern, Northern, Northeastern, Central, Eastern and Western).
From Wikipedia’s article on King Power, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4