Wealth of Thailand’s 50 Richest on Forbes list rises nearly 15% to US$173 billion

The Chirathivat family of the Central group moves up one spot to No. 4 with a net worth of

US$12.4 billion, up US$1.8 billion from US$10.6 billion last year.

Energy billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi of Gulf Energy Development is at No. 5 on the list with US$11.3 billion, up slightly from US$11.1 billion previously.

Overall, 21 Fortunes got a boost from a year ago. A couple of the biggest gainers in percentage terms benefited from the return of foreign shoppers: Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, whose family owns duty-free operator King Power International, more than doubled his net worth to US$3.5 billion to reclaim a place in the top ten and appears at No. 8.

The fortune of Supaluck Umpujh (No. 15), who runs her family’s retailing empire The Mall Group, which owns a string of popular malls such as Siam Paragon and EmQuartier, doubled to US$2 billion.

The retailing rebound propelled one…