For a successful businessman in Hong Kong, the humiliation of falling under the weight of more than Bt140 billion in debts came as a shock.

Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) chief executive officer Keeree Kanjanapas realised he had to overcome his ego and accept that running business as a one-man show was the way to disaster.

"I was very aggressive and overconfident back then. I was quite successful in business in Hong Kong, so I thought that if I ran a business in Thailand, I would be successful here as well. My overconfidence sometimes made me arrogant and I didn't realise it. As a result, there were mistakes. It not only affected me, but also put the company's shareholders in trouble," said Keeree, founder of Thanayong Plc, one of the country's leading property developers before the Asian economic crisis in 1997.

Keeree came to fame in Thailand through a property project that was worth more than Bt10 billion. He stepped into the mass-transit system business because he believed that it was a useful project. He thought the return would be worth the investment, as a mass-transit system could benefit Thanayong's real-estate business in the future. Therefore, he put a lot of effort in this project.

"I was confident that the mass-transit system would assist the real-estate business. I had seen many examples overseas. I was initially inspired by that," said Keeree.

BTS introduced its proposal to build the route but there were some unexpected protests against the project, including expropriation problems and objections from an elite school that claimed the proposed route came too close to their premises. Beyond that, the country's economy had fallen into a sudden recession. The baht had depreciated unexpectedly and that automatically put BTS and Thanayong into debt of more than Bt100 billion.

"Initially I was stunned. I didn't know what to do to solve the problem, especially for Thanayong. Besides the problem with the BTS investment, the real estate business was also devastated," Keeree said.

"I was confused and depressed. I didn't even want to wake up in the morning and go to the office because I didn't know which way to turn at work. There was no exit for me. However, I'm not a loser. My family was very supportive, so I faced the problem. The first thing I did was to acknowledge the loss to shareholders and creditors and show that I would take responsibility and rehabilitate the company," he explained.

Keeree said that throughout the past seven years, the toughest task for him has been to negotiate the company's rehabilitation. "I can now proudly say that BTS and Thanayong have been through the storm," Keeree said.

Thanayong's rehabilitation plan was approved by the Central Bankruptcy Court and its stock will be back to trade on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on December 4. The company expects the rehabilitation plan for BTS will be completed soon.

Keeree said that he might have made mistakes in business management but he has never thought the projects he has invested were mistakes.

"I've never thought of leaving the companies, nor the shareholders. From now on, to repay the loyalty of shareholders, I'll do my best to make sure that these two companies grow strongly," he said.

"I'll change my management style from family management to professional management. Decisions must be made as a team. There'll be no more individual management. The family-management style proved that it was not the path to success. Also, it wasn't fair to the shareholders. Our projects will not only generate profit to the companies but also give back to society. History won't be repeated. I'll manage BTS while Kewin, my only son, will manage Thanayong," Keeree said.

Keeree learnt that from now on funding must come ahead of project implementation and the management must be prudent and careful.

After the restructuring of shareholders, the Kanjanapas family will hold more than 10 per cent, while 10 per cent will be held by creditors, and the remainder will be held by new partners and retail investors.

Thanayong, with Bt5.3 billion registered capital, now has Bt6 billion in "clean assets". Keeree said that in the early stages, the funds will be utilised for renovation of existing projects. The new projects will definitely be launched and they will be as large as Bt10 billion.

Keeree concluded that he has been through the rainy days because he has always believed in a "never give up" way of thinking.

"I have to give everything a go. However, ability alone is not enough, sometimes you need a few miracles," he added.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation