The King Power International Group (Thai: กลุ่มบริษัท คิง เพาเวอร์ อินเตอร์เนชันแนล) is a Thai travel retail group, based in Bangkok. The chairman and CEO was Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha until his death in October 2018. He was succeeded as chairman by his son, Aiyawatt.
King Power's cash cow is the proprietary concession of Thailand's duty-free business." The company is the largest duty-free retailer in Thailand. Its duty free shopping mall in Bangkok's central business district covers over 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) and it has branches at Suvarnabhumi Airport and Thailand's other major airports. In 2015, King Power launched an online site selling duty-free and duty-paid items.
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.
