€4.5bn tycoon whose life was defined by luck
WHEN he was young, legend has it that Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was involved in a spectacular high-speed car crash on the notoriously dangerous roads of Thailand.
To the amazement of onlookers, he walked free from a tangle of wreckage with little more than cuts and bruises. He attributed his survival to a ‘lucky’ golden Buddhist amulet which he’d purchased with a €450 loan from his father, and was wearing around his neck.
Later, after fate – combined with a ruthless and sometimes controversial instinct for business and patronage – had turned him into one of Asia’s wealthiest men with a fortune estimated at almost €4.5billion, Srivaddhanaprabha became a serious collector of such charms.
Around €11million-worth are now displayed in a special museum at the Bangkok headquarters of King Power, the duty-free business he founded three decades ago.
The museum is one of many unconventional status symbols acquired by the bespectacled 61year-old, who may have resembled a provincial accountant, but who for years enjoyed the turbocharged lifestyle of a serious plutocrat.
In addition to the €2.2million Augusta Westland helicopter that tragically crashed on Saturday, he owned a 35m Sunseeker yacht with five cabins, a top speed of 26 knots, and a €12.3million price tag – as well as a Gulfstream G-650 private jet, purchased for €48million from Bernie Ecclestone’s wife, Fabiana, in 2013.
Some attribute that eye-watering wealth as a major factor in one of sport’s most improbable fairytales. After buying Leicester City in 2010, it took just six years to transform the ‘Foxes’ from a debtridden club languishing in the middle reaches of English football’s second tier to the most unlikely Champions in the history of the Premier League. Others argue that he owed the famous title – won at odds of 5,000/1 – to the sort of outrageous good luck that was following him on the day of the aforementioned car crash.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was certainly superstitious, and would regularly fly a plane-load of monks to England from Thailand’s Golden Buddha temple in order to bless both Leicester’s pitch and players in advance of a match.
And whenever Leicester won, his generosity was boundless.
To mark the team’s illustrious title, in 2016, players were each given a BMW i8 sports car, worth more than €112,000. It was at least some payback for the €168million he’s reputed to have put into the club, for which he paid €43million, spending freely on players, buying the Walkers stadium – to be renamed King Power – and wiping out its €115million debt in order to secure Leicester’s future.
Today, Leicester City is thought to be worth around €393million, almost ten times what he paid for it. In May 2017, Srivaddhanaprabha brought a second club, Belgian side OH Leuven. Fans would also benefit from his largesse.
To mark his 60th birthday, 60 veteran supporters were told that this year’s season ticket was on the house. On a more serious note, in 2016, he wrote a cheque for more than €2.25million to a local children’s hospital.
His story began in April 1957, when he was born Vichai Rakriaksorn to wealthy Thai Chinese parents who sent him to study in both Taiwan and the United States.
He described his interest in duty free as being a product of his jetsetting childhood. He began as an agent for luxury brands before investing in a duty-free business in Hong Kong that he eventually acquired and renamed King Power in the late 1980s.
It chuntered along for almost two decades, but suddenly hit the big time in 2006 after securing the exclusive rights to run duty-free stores in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, now the twelfth busiest in the world.
The controversial contract (its tendering process was widely criticised) was blessed by the Thai telecoms tycoon-turned-prime minister and former Manchester City owner, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Although Shinawatra was removed from power in a coup in September 2006, Srivaddhanaprabha businesses continued to thrive under the military junta that replaced him. ‘Vichai has made his money by being close to politicians,’ a member of the Bangkok business community told the media in 2016. In addition to politicians, Srivaddhanaprabha also successfully courted Thailand’s hugely powerful monarch.
The firm now has a presence in Cambodia, Macau and China, and diversified into restaurants, hotels and solar power.
A huge polo fan, Vichai singlehandedly introduced the sport to Thailand and over the past year, Srivaddhanaprabha had also started investing heavily in racehorses... including a two-year-old bought for €425,000, called Come On Leicester. Earlier this month it romped home in a sixfurlong sprint at Leicester racecourse, a stone’s throw from the King Power stadium. The winning odds were 9/4.
Sadly, for so many connected with this football club and this city, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s luck seems to have finally run out.