Now 51, he is the eldest son of Prachak Tangkaravakoon, who founded TOA Paint Pcl, Thailand’s largest paint maker. Vonnarat was executive director at Toa from 1998 until his resignation last month. He also held a 9% stake in TOA, according to its website, although the company denies any relationship with Stark in terms of investment or management.
Under Vonnarat, Stark continued its rapid growth through acquisitions, including industrial products businesses in Vietnam. In May last year, it announced a €560 million deal to buy Leoni Business Group Automotive Cable Solutions, a German maker of automotive cable solutions, its first major expansion outside Asia. He has not replied to Bloomberg’s queries to his representative at Stark.