Sarath Ratanavadi
Thai businessman; founder and chief executive of Gulf Development
| Sarath Ratanavadi
| |
|---|---|
| Image | .jpg) Sarath at the Chula Presidents Summit, February 2025 |
| Born | 12 July 1965 (Forbes) |
| Nationality | Thai |
| Residence | Bangkok, Thailand (Forbes) |
| Occupation | Chief executive, Gulf Development |
| Known for | Gulf Energy Development; Gulf Development |
| Education | BSc Engineering, Chulalongkorn University; master's degree in engineering, United States (Forbes) |
Sarath Ratanavadi (born 12 July 1965) is a Thai businessman and chief executive of Gulf Development. The conglomerate was formed in 2025 by merging his power producer, Gulf Energy Development, with the telecoms holding company Intouch Holdings.[1][2] On 10 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Sarath Ratanavadi 165th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$17.1 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as energy.[1][3] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Sarath Ratanavadi 157th, at US$18.1 billion.[4] His group's interests include power plants, an LNG terminal, motorways, Thailand's second-largest mobile operator, data centres and a cryptocurrency exchange run jointly with Binance.[2][1][5]
Education
Forbes says Sarath studied engineering at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and then took a master's degree in engineering in the United States.[1] He is a former managing director of the Thailand Golf Championship.[1]
Gulf Energy Development
Sarath took Gulf Energy Development public in 2017, raising more than US$700 million. Forbes describes it as Thailand's biggest IPO in a decade.[1] Gulf Energy has a 70:30 joint venture with the state-owned oil and gas firm PTT to build a US$1.3 billion LNG terminal and port on Thailand's east coast. Forbes reported that its 2020 revenue was boosted in part by a German wind power project in which it had acquired a 50% stake.[1] In April 2021 Sarath bid about US$17 billion to take control of Intouch and its mobile operator Advanced Info Service (AIS), and he went on to acquire stakes in both.[1] Gulf's data-centre joint venture with Singtel and AIS began operating in 2025. In May 2025 Gulf bought a stake in Kasikornbank, which it later increased to become the bank's second-largest shareholder.[1]
Gulf Development merger
Reuters reported on 25 March 2025 that more than 99% of Intouch shareholders had approved the merger with Gulf Energy, which already owned about 47.4% of Intouch. LSEG data put the combined entity at US$25 billion, and Singtel was Intouch's second-largest shareholder with about 25%.[6] Gulf Development began trading on 3 April 2025.[7] The Business Times reported that its market value on debut was 736 billion baht, 13% below the combined value of the two companies before they delisted.[2] Intouch had been set up by the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.[2] After the merger Gulf Development planned to invest a further US$1.75 billion in data centres.[2]
Cryptocurrency
Gulf Energy signed an agreement with Binance in January 2022, and their joint-venture exchange launched in Thailand in January 2024.[1] Binance TH is operated by Gulf Binance Co., Ltd., which is licensed and supervised by Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission and Ministry of Finance.[5]
Wealth
Forbes lists energy as the source of his wealth and classes him as self-made.[1] In April 2025 the Bloomberg Billionaires Index put his net worth at more than US$12 billion.[2]
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 9 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2018. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.[4][1]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 629 | 3.6 |
| 2019 | 436 | 4.4 |
| 2020 | 241 | 6.3 |
| 2021 | 264 | 8.9 |
| 2022 | 161 | 11.8 |
| 2023 | 141 | 12.3 |
| 2024 | 200 | 10.7 |
| 2025 | 184 | 12.9 |
| 2026 | 157 | 18.1 |
Political activity
No public political donations or statements by Sarath were found in the sources checked. The merged group includes Intouch, the telecoms company set up by Thaksin Shinawatra.[2]
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Other international links
Singapore: Singtel is a partner in Gulf's data-centre joint venture and was Intouch's second-largest shareholder before the merger.[1][6] Germany: Gulf owns a 50% stake in a German wind power project.[1] Binance: Gulf runs Thailand's Binance TH exchange as a joint venture with Binance.[5]
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 The Business Times, Thailand's richest man picks bad day to debut his flagship firm The Business Times (Singapore), 3 April 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 10 November 2026 17:20 UTC, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Binance TH, Binance TH FAQ Binance TH, accessed 10 November 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Roshan Thomas (Reuters), Shareholders of Thailand's Intouch approve merger with Gulf Energy Reuters via Yahoo Finance, 25 March 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Kaohoon International, Gulf Development Debuts Post-Merger, Marking New Chapter for Energy and Digital Ventures Kaohoon International, 3 April 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.