Apichart Chutrakul

[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]nyone interested in Thai real estate recognises the name Sansiri, the property giant behind some of the country’s most luxurious developments.

Since Nov 2017, the billion-dollar company has branched out more broadly into the lifestyle sector, investing in the hotel group Standard International, trendy magazine Monocle, Singapore-based co-working group JustCo and online art gallery Artsy. It has also invested in Hostmaker, a London-based management company for Airbnb hosts, and Farmshelf, a company providing indoor-farming shelves where you can grow your own vegetables.

In Singapore, Sansiri created Siri House on Dempsey Road that is a restaurant, art gallery, property showroom and lifestyle concept store all in one.

(RELATED: Jam at Siri House brings hearty, indulgent cooking to the heart of Dempsey)

The man behind Sansiri’s diversification efforts is Apichart Chutrakul, Sansiri’s CEO who has set his sights on the future while planting his feet firmly on the ground. Mr Chutrakul wants to prepare his company for the kind of disruptions that have impacted several industries such as finance, insurance and the media.

For so long, Sansiri thrived on its real estate business: Overall sales in 2018 was a record US$1.5 billion, up 25 per cent from the previous year. And the combined target for the next three years (including 2019) is US$5 billion, an increase of 15 per cent. In 2019 alone, it is launching 28 new projects worth US$1.5 billion.