Exec shake-up at Sermsuk

Sermsuk is 65 per cent owned by ThaiBev, which also holds 28.5 per cent of F&N.The Sirivadhanabhakdi family, which is a major shareholder of ThaiBev, also owns a sizeable stake in F&N.

Dhitivute, 48, will serve as the third vice chairman of Sermsuk’s executive committee, which is chaired by his father, Somchai, who founded the company 62 years ago as the local bottler of Pepsi soft drinks. ThaiBev took over the company in 2012, winning a fight against Pepsi Inc.

A Sermsuk source said yesterday that it was Dhitivute’s own decision to leave the post, as he wanted to refocus on strategy and policy and move away from day-to-day operations. 

Dhitivute became president in October 2011. He has won huge praise from the board of directors. He played a crucial role in the development of Sermsuk’s business direction as well as launching a new corporate identity with the theme of “Sermsuk fulfils happiness”. 

He was instrumental in the creation of the “cool-est” phenomenon with Sermsuk’s roll-out of “est”, a ground-breaking move to introduce a new soft-drink brand into the Thai beverage market.

However, his experience is limited to Thailand, while Sermsuk, with a large fleet of trucks and nationwide marketing network, is playing a central role in boosting ThaiBev’s non-alcoholic-beverage business. 

“As a senior executive of F&N, Khun Vivek, as the new president, has strong historical achievements and experience in doing business in Asean, and that should benefit our marketing and distribution team. 

“It will be in line with ThaiBev’s vision to become the regional leader in Asean by 2020,” the source said.

Chhabra has many years of experience in the beverage industry across several countries. His mandate is to develop and lead Sermsuk’s portfolio of non-alcoholic products, which has a strong presence in Thailand and the Asean market. 

He will also align Sermsuk’s strategy with that of ThaiBev to achieve the group’s “Vision 2020”.

This reshuffle follows the recent appointment of another foreign executive to Chang International, a subsidiary of ThaiBev, which is firming its presence in the alcoholic-beverage segment. 

Edmond Neo Kim Soon, a former executive of Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries, now leads Chang International as its chief executive officer. He is bringing years of experience in brand development for APB Group, a maker of a long list of brands including Tiger Beer. He has a strong background in regional marketing, commercial operations and general management, having spent several of his 20 years in APB Group working at their breweries in Singapore, New Zealand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

ThaiBev is also consolidating all Chang beer brands into one – Chang Classic. 

Listed in Singapore, ThaiBev reported net consolidated income of Bt39.6 billion in the first six months of this year.