Hard-Charging CEO Of Bangkok-Listed Industrial Estate Developer Bets $1 Billion On Vietnam

[Viet]

Jareeporn Jarukornsakul.

BRENT LEWIN/BLOOMBERG
Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, cofounder of logistics and warehousing firm WHA Corporation, is betting $1 billion on neighboring Vietnam, with plans to build three new next-generation industrial zones for high-tech companies over the next five years.

The company currently has a $200 million industrial estate in the coastal province of Nghe An, with tenants such as Foxconn. The new projects will cover a total of 3,650 hectares, with the first expected to break ground by year-end.

Meanwhile, WHA continues to expand at home, where it owns and operates a dozen industrial estates. In October,it inked a deal to sell 40 hectares at its Rayong industrial estate in the country’s eastern economic corridor to Chinese carmaker Changan Automobile for its first overseas EV factory.

In 2023, WHA’s net profit grew 9% to a record 4.4 billion baht ($119 million) from the year before on 17 billion baht in revenue. Jareeporn, who started the company in 2003 with her late ex-husband, Somyos Anantaprayoon and took over as group CEO in 2015, moves up six spots to No. 31 with a net worth of $1 billion.