Private company

Central Group

Logo: Central Group, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Thai multinational conglomerate

Central Group is a Thai multinational conglomerate founded by Tiang and Samrit Chirathivat in 1947, and still privately owned by the Chirathivat family as of 2025. Its publicly traded subsidiaries include Central Retail, Central Pattana (commercial real estate development), and Central Plaza Hotel (hospitality group and restaurant operator). Its privately held subsidiaries operate several European department stores, including those acquired from the former KaDeWe Group and Selfridges Group, and financial services.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1947Founded1
  • Industryhospitality industry1
  • HeadquartersPathum Wan Subdistrict1
  • Founded inBangkok1
  • Websitewww.centralgroup.com
  • Legal formholding company1

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Central Pinklao
Photo: Ahoerstemeier, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

Central Group is a Thai multinational conglomerate founded by Tiang and Samrit Chirathivat in 1947, and still privately owned by the Chirathivat family as of 2025. Its publicly traded subsidiaries include Central Retail, Central Pattana (commercial real estate development), and Central Plaza Hotel (hospitality group and restaurant operator). Its privately held subsidiaries operate several European department stores, including those acquired from the former KaDeWe Group and Selfridges Group, and financial services.2

Corporate structure

Central Group sits at the top of its group. 6 entities, 2 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Central Group reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

Founded by Chirathivat family in 1947, in Bangkok.1

Founder Tiang emigrated from Hainan Island to Bangkok in 1925. He set up his first shop in the Thon Buri district on the outskirts of Bangkok across the Chao Phraya River from the city center. He moved across the Chao Phraya River to a location near the grand Oriental Hotel (now the Mandarin Oriental), where he opened a store with his eldest son, Samrit, in 1947. In 1956, the family opened Central Department Store, the biggest department store in Thailand at that time, in Wang Burapa district, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok. The company's property development arm, Central Pattana, was founded in 1980, and opened its first shopping centre, CentralPlaza Ladprao in Chatuchak District, Bangkok, in 1983. Besides expansion through physical presence in the Bangkok retail space, Central Group has in recent years built an online presence among ASEAN e-tailers and a strong presence of luxury department store collection in Europe.

From Wikipedia’s article on Central Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • shopping center

Listed on Wikidata.1

Public subsidiaries

Central Plaza Hotel

Central Group owns and manages visitor accommodation at all major Thai tourist destinations and around the world under own banners as well as international brands. Hotels cover every segment from luxury to economy. Central’s own brands comprise Centara Reserve, Centara Grand, Centara Boutique Collection, Centara, Centra by Centara and Cosi, while internationally branded hotels include Park Hyatt Bangkok and Hilton Pattaya. In the Maldives, Centara Grand is opening its fourth location on February 1, 2025. In Japan, Central Group is a co-investor in StayFactory Hotel Group, whose brands include Hotel Hillarys, Hotel Relief, and Hotel Stork. In Switzerland, Central Group has also comprised Central Hotel Zurich company and Globus supermarket.

Central Group has also pioneered restaurant chains in Thailand, and operates well-known local, regional, and international food brands such as Mister Donut, KFC, Auntie Anne’s, Pepper Lunch, Chabuton, The Terrace, Yoshinoya, Ootoya, Tenya, Katsuya and Fezt.

Private subsidiaries

Financial services

One of Central Group's aspirations towards the New Central New Economy strategy is to create convenience for both merchants and consumers with financial services and Fintech, with the ultimate goal of a cashless society in Thailand.

Credit – The1 credit card, sales finance, personal loans

Read the full text

Payment – gift cards, e-payments, e-wallets

Insurance brokerage – motor, health, personal accident, property & casualty, group life

From Wikipedia’s article on Central Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

Also owns

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1947Founded Founded in Bangkok1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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