Thai Central aims to invest up to $468 mln in Southeast Asia

BANGKOK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Central Pattana Pcl, Thailand's largest department store operator, plans to invest up to 15 billion baht ($468 million) to open 2-3 new stores in Southeast Asia in the next five years.

Central aims to spend about 4-5 billion baht per a store and planned to open its first foreign department store in Malaysia in 2016, said Wallaya Chirathivat, the company's senior executive vice president for business development.

"We see growth opportunities to invest in Southeast Asia as it will become a single market," he said in a statement.

Central Pattana, part of unlisted retail conglomerate Central Group, is majority owned by Thailand's Chirathivat family, the country's second-richest group, according to Forbes Magazine.
($1 = 32.0700 Thai baht)