Founded in 1878, B.Grimm holds the title of Thailand’s longest-established conglomerate. From its early days selling European pharmaceuticals in Bangkok, the company has since expanded into various sectors such as energy, industrial, healthcare, lifestyle and digital technology.

This historic journey, spanning the reign of six Thai kings, is closely intertwined with Thailand’s development, as B.Grimm adapted to society’s needs, bringing European products, modern technology and know-how to an increasingly prosperous country. It is a story of adaptability, resilience and compassion.

“B.Grimm’s founders wanted to do something good for Thailand,” Chairman Harald Link says. “They fell in love with the country and spoke the language fluently and thought deeply about how they could support the Thai people.

“From the very beginning, doing business with compassion is really what runs through our 147 years of history.”

Origin story

Erwin Mueller arrived in Thailand (then known as Siam) from Germany on 30 January 1874, having accepted a job at the Siam branch of a trading firm. Once settled, Mueller noticed that Bangkok lacked a modern, European-style pharmacy, whose products were in demand from other Westerners.

Spotting this opportunity, Mueller invited his friend, Bernhard Grimm, a German pharmacist, to join him in Siam. Together, the pair opened a European-style pharmacy, the first company to make Western medicine in Thailand, which they named The Siam Dispensary.

Over time, the dispensary drew the interest of members of the royal court, and Grimm shared his knowledge about the preparation and application of Western pharmaceuticals, helping to nurture meaningful connections with important figures in Thai society.

Come 1882, Bangkok was struck by a severe cholera outbreak, leading many Thais and foreigners to leave the city. During this difficult time, B.Grimm supported the government in ordering, preparing and distributing medicine across the city.

In recognition of their service, both were awarded medals of honor from the Royal Family. B.Grimm was bestowed the official title of Court Supplier, further solidifying the company’s reputation among members of the royal household and high society.

1878: B.Grimm Dispensary. The first manufacturer of European medicines in Thailand

Soon after, His Majesty King Rama V expressed a vision to build a modern hospital in Bangkok. B.Grimm contributed to this national effort through both financial support and the import of European materials. Siriraj Hospital opened its doors in 1888 and continues to serve the public to this day.

As B.Grimm’s reputation continued to grow, so too did the demand for European products. In response, B.Grimm opened The Bangkok Outfitting Company in 1893, Bangkok’s first luxury department store catering to society’s upper class. The store was later granted the prestigious “By Appointment” patent from King Rama V.

Over the years, B.Grimm was instrumental in the construction of many important infrastructure projects as well as the import of desirable products, including microscopes, cameras, rice mill machines, watermills, fountain pens and more – helping contribute to Thailand’s growing modernization.

In 1903, while on a trip to Europe, Mueller met Adolf Link – Harald Link’s grandfather – a young, ambitious pharmacist from Lübeck who was hired to continue Grimm’s legacy while always caring for society at large.

Resilience and adaptation

Despite B.Grimm’s success and notable contributions to society, it has not always been smooth sailing. Following the outbreak of World War I, Adolf, as a German national, had all his assets seized on orders of the British government and was sent with his wife and two children, Herbert and Gerhard, to concentration camps in India.

Returning home to Bangkok in 1920, two years after the war had ended, Adolf was able to restart the business thanks to B.Grimm’s enduring reputation. This was especially demonstrated in 1928 when Prince Bhanurangrsi graciously funded the construction of a new premise for B.Grimm directly across from his residence at Burapha Palace.

1931: First phone call between Germany and Thailand. His Royal Highness Prince Prem Purachatra made the first long-distance phone call from Berlin, with Adolf Link sitting on the left, to Prince Purachatra Jayakara in Bangkok

With operations restored, B.Grimm returned to serving the community through its pharmaceutical and retail businesses, as well as assisting Thailand with the construction of important projects, including a paper factory and a wireless radio communication system for the Royal Thai Navy.

World War II brought with it more disruption, with the Link family members in Bangkok being placed under house arrest and all the company’s assets confiscated. Despite this setback, in 1949, Adolf Link, then 73 years old, received permission to reopen the business thanks to his contacts and reputation, beginning a new era for the company led by his two sons, Herbert and Gerhard.

As Thailand modernized, B.Grimm flourished once again, providing support across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, maritime, energy and transport and air-conditioning. During this time, Herbert Link and his wife, Alma, devoted their time and wealth to Thailand and its people.

1975: Alma Link, Thailand’s first foreign ‘Khunying’

As a former nurse, Alma Link devoted much of her life to social welfare. She served with the Siri Wattana Cheshire Foundation, which provided help and shelter for the disabled, the elderly and those with chronic diseases.

She also chaired the Foundation for the Welfare of the Crippled and was active in the Caulfield Foundation for the Blind, among many other organizations. In recognition of her service, Alma Link was granted the title of ‘Lady’ or Khunying by King Rama IX in 1975, making her the first foreigner to receive the honor.

Fast-forward to 1978, when Gerhard’s son, Harald Link, joined the business in Thailand as Managing Partner.

1996: German Chancellor Helmut Kohl congratulates Harald Link, Chairman of B.Grimm, and Vikrom Kromadit, CEO of Amata Corporation, on the occasion of the signing ceremony of the first power plant

A decade later, he assumed the role of Chairman, at a time when both the company and the country were facing significant economic challenges.

“When I took over, we were in a crisis mode,” Link recalls. “The Thai economy was in really bad shape, especially for importers. I was only 32 at the time; I knew we had to do something, but I didn’t yet have a clear concept, as I had not expected to lead the company at such a young age.”

Link made the case to his father and uncle, who gave him the green light to make changes, and then he appealed to the company and its employees for support.

“Sometimes when you see an American movie and you see somebody’s in trouble, that person ends up completely deserted by everybody who previously supported them. Thailand is the opposite. You go to the people you work with and say, ‘This is the situation, we are in trouble, please help and let’s do this together,’ and we did,” he recalls.

1998: Amata B.Grimm Power – B.Grimm’s first industrial power plant

Noting the success B.Grimm had working with American air-conditioning company Carrier as part of a joint venture, rather than as a distributor, B.Grimm approached all the other companies it represented and tried to form more joint ventures. At the same time, B.Grimm decided to start doing things for itself again, a move that Link describes as “going back to our roots”.

“Within one year, we had solved our issues, and things started going well. Today, roughly 99 percent of our business is either our own or joint ventures, with the biggest part of that being owned by us,” he says.

“We have Thai people who are very talented, and we use our experience in being people of the world to now do business in 15 different countries.”

Guiding principles

B.Grimm’s corporate philosophy is ‘Doing business with compassion in harmony with nature’, an approach that incorporates the four virtues of Buddhism: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

While these are very different principles from many other multinational companies, Link believes B.Grimm’s long-term commitment to its principles is a core reason behind B.Grimm’s enduring longevity.

“Compassion is perhaps difficult to understand in a Western concept because business schools teach that business is about making money, but it is not,” he says. “Business is about doing something good for society, and then society will like the products or services and hopefully pay a commensurate price for them. This is what we have been doing all along.”

Link adds that this way of thinking also applies to the way B.Grimm views other businesses.

“Universities always teach the concept of competition, but I think if you look at things that way, you start thinking about other companies in a non-positive manner; after all, they just want to do business like us,” he says.

“In our case, we don’t get mad at other businesses; we instead look at them as potential partners, especially in industries like power where companies can work together because investment is so high.”

These principles, specifically the concept of sympathetic joy, also extend to relationships between colleagues, which encourages positivity and support toward others for their successes rather than unhappiness or jealousy, Link says.

“Our values reflect this mindset. Positivity keeps us moving forward, especially in tough times. Professionalism ensures we act with care and purpose,” he explains.

“Our pioneering spirit drives improvement, while partnership helps us build lasting trust – within our team and with others. Doing business in the Buddhist sense may be challenging, but it leads to deeper, lasting happiness – not from material things, but from doing good for society.”

2013: B.Grimm joins the Royal Thai Government to save the tigers

While B.Grimm and Link is heavily involved in what Westerners would describe as philanthropy and corporate social responsibility, Link views these activities quite differently.

“I never talk about philanthropy, because that makes it sound separate from ‘Doing Business with Compassion’. I always thought this was just the way we live our lives,” he says.

“If you look at my father, my uncle, my aunt, this was how they lived their lives. They didn’t speak much about it. They just did it.”

One such initiative is The Little Scientists’ House, a German science education program now taught in over 30,000 schools across Thailand. Link also serves as an elected member of the Council of the Thai Red Cross Society and has partnered with the Thai Government to help recover Thailand’s tiger population.

2005: Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra under the Royal Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, chaired by Harald Link

In arts and culture, B.Grimm has been a key supporter of the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation since 2005, helping elevate Thailand’s classical music to an international stage. Link chairs the Foundation and also supports the Bangkok City Ballet to further develop the country’s theatrical dance scene.

As a lifelong equestrian, Link actively supports polo and equestrian sports in Thailand as well as across the region. In his role as President of the Thailand Equestrian Federation, he provides full financial support to the Thailand National Team riders.

One of his proudest achievements came in 2019, when the Thai Polo & Equestrian Club was selected by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports to host the first-ever FEI Asian Championships in Asia.

Then in 2021, Thailand made history by sending its first national equestrian team to the Tokyo Olympics.

“B.Grimm is now definitely considered a Thai company, although it was founded by foreigners,” Link says. “And that is what we strive for in every country where we operate. Wherever we are, we take doing business with compassion very seriously.”

One such example is South Korea’s equestrian team. Despite being one of Asia’s strongest, the team faced a loss of sponsorship ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Without hesitation, Link stepped in with financial support, enabling the team to compete.

In recognition, Link received an honorary award for his outstanding sports contribution from the Korean National Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism – becoming the first foreign national in 70 years to receive such an honor.

“This award came as a consequence of support, not by design. That’s very important,” he says. “When you want to do something good, do it for the cause itself. Of course, it brings personal satisfaction, but the intention should never be about seeking recognition.

2024: Harald Link, the first foreigner in 70 years in the history of South Korea to receive an award for his outstanding contributions to equestrian sports in Korea

“Ultimately, we want to be an integral part of society, rather than being a foreigner who profits and takes it home. A few years from now, when people in Korea hear about B.Grimm, we hope they’ll see it as a Korean company. And that applies to every country we operate in.”

Harmony with nature

Being one of Thailand’s leading industrial power producers, B.Grimm Power operates with the vision of ‘Empowering the World Compassionately’. The company has long prioritized cleaner energy production and the transition to renewables. B.Grimm was among the first companies in Thailand to commit to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

By 2024, 28 percent of its energy portfolio came from renewable sources, with an ambitious target of reaching 50 percent by 2030. To support this, the company also aims to secure power purchase agreement licenses totaling 10,000 megawatts.

Notable renewable energy projects include the construction of the world’s largest hydro-floating solar hybrid project at Sirindhorn Dam in Thailand in 2021, in collaboration with Energy China. This project allowed the first synchronization of the newly constructed 45-megawatt floating solar farm to operate in tandem with the existing 45-megawatt hydropower dam and is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 47,000 metric tons per year.

2025: B.Grimm’s offshore wind power project, South Korea

B.Grimm also has a significant presence of renewable energy projects outside Thailand, such as in the Republic of Korea, where the 740-megawatt Nakwol 1 & 2 offshore wind farms mark the largest wind project to be developed by the private sector in the country. In the Philippines, the company has plans to develop a 65-megawatt solar power plant, while in Italy, it is developing a significant portfolio of solar farms totaling 250–300 megawatts.

Beyond individual projects, B.Grimm Power drives its broader sustainability vision through the GreenLeap Strategy. This initiative focuses on delivering renewable energy to industrial clients worldwide, retrofitting existing plants for alternative fuels, developing synthetic and organic fuels for sectors such as aviation and shipping and partnering with global data center operators to create energy solutions that power Thailand’s growing digital economy.

These endeavors, along with the company’s increasing number of projects across the globe, position B.Grimm Power as a front-runner in the transition to a clean energy future.

Continuing a legacy

B.Grimm’s longstanding contribution to Thai society continues to be recognized, such as in November 2023, when Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the celebration ceremony at Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn in Bangkok, commemorating B.Grimm’s 145th anniversary in Thailand.

Looking ahead, Link hopes to reestablish the company’s pharmaceutical business and consolidate its power business across the 15 countries where it currently operates. This includes becoming more integrated with society through the support of social causes.

“The better the company is doing, the more we will have to give back to society,” Link says.

As for the future leadership of B.Grimm, Harald and his wife, Assunta, have two adult children, Caroline and Felix, with Caroline gearing up to take over when the time comes.

“Back when I became Managing Partner, I wasn’t fully prepared,” Link recalls. “I didn’t know how to run the whole show, but thankfully, things worked out with the support of many people.

“Caroline is already involved in all the board and strategy meetings, and I think she is far more advanced than I was, so I’m convinced she’ll be able to do it. Then, of course, we are hoping for her children to follow as the fifth generation of the Link family.

2023: Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously presides over the celebration ceremony commemorating the 145th anniversary of B.Grimm’s business in Thailand at the Temple of Dawn

“I believe every company has a soul. It’s very easy to destroy that soul and difficult to build it – but it exists. When a company shows continuity through the century, it’s because there is a very strong soul behind it. The soul of B.Grimm has always been to consider ourselves as part of society and to help with its needs.”

With B.Grimm continuing to grow from strength to strength and future leadership firmly in place, Link shuns the idea of retirement, instead remaining enthusiastic about his ongoing contribution to Thailand’s oldest conglomerate.

“You could say that I work seven days a week, but it’s not seven days of pushing paper; I get to do things I love, like building strong organizations and assets like power plants, universities, ships, and so on,” he says.

“I enjoy doing business, but I also enjoy being president of the Equestrian Federation and chairman of the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation. All these things give me great pleasure, so if we talk about work or retirement – well, I think I’ll work until I die.”