page_title: King Power
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: King Power / History
caption_attribution_description: English: King Power free shop at macau international airport.
context_page_description: The King Power International Group is Thailand's leading 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 Srivaddhanaprabha.
  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 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.
context_section_description: 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. Its contract at Suvarnabhumi expires in 2020 and at Don Mueang in 2022. 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.
  In June 2016 King Power purchased a US$226 million stake in Thai AirAsia, the country's largest budget airline. The purchase of 39 percent of holding company Asia Aviation makes King Power the second largest shareholder in Thai AirAsia.
  On 27 October 2018, the chairman and CEO of King Power, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a  helicopter crash, shortly after leaving King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City FC. The cause of the crash is currently unknown, and is under investigation by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
caption: A King Power duty free shop at Macau International Airport.
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