Tay Za is a Burmese business tycoon, and a close associate of the former country's Head of State, Than Shwe

Than Shwe

Senior General Than Shwe is a Burmese military leader and politician who was chairman of the State Peace and Development Council from 1992 to 2011. During the period, he held key positions of power including commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces and head of Union Solidarity and...

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According to one source, he was born in 1964 at YGN. His father was an ex-Lt Col. He was the youngest of total 6 siblings. He passed 10th standard at TTC of Yangon in 1982. He was one of 1982 intake of Defence Service Acadamy, Pyin Oo Lwin. Before finishing the cadet course, he married with Thida Zaw, daughter of U Zaw and Daw Htoo of Gyobingauk

Gyobingauk

Gyobingauk is a small town and seat of Gyobingauk Township, Tharrawaddy District, in the Bago Region of southern-central Burma. It lies approximately 10 kilometres north of Okpho along National Highway 2.It is located roughly 185 kilometres north of Yangon. The town has a Roman Catholic history...

, without consent from her parents and from Acadamy. Because of that he was sentenced for military prison.

Business holdings

His major business interests include Htoo Group

Htoo Group of Companies

The Htoo Group of Companies is a Burmese holding company, with headquarters at 5 Pyay Road, Hlaing Township, Yangon, Myanmar. HGC is the parent company of Air Bagan, a privately held Burmese airline company. The company has several subsidiaries. Htoo Wood Products Company Ltd. is engaged in...

 and Air Bagan

Air Bagan

Air Bagan Limited , operating as Air Bagan, is an airline headquartered in Bahan Township, Yangon, Myanmar. It operates domestic scheduled services to 15 towns and cities, as well as to Thailand. Its main bases are Yangon International Airport and Mandalay Chanmyathazi Airport.- History :The...

, the country's first and only fully privately-owned airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

. In 2006/2007 Htoo Trading, a division of Htoo Holdings involved in teak

Teak

Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

 log exports, was Burma's top private exporter and fifth largest overall, with gross revenues of $65.1 million.He began his career in the 1980s and started Htoo Group in the early 1990s to extract timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

 from Burma's forests.

Other activities include construction, tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

, infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 projects, and mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 services.

Tay Za's airline Air Bagan is the main sponsor of Yangon United Football Club, one of the nine professional football clubs in Myanmar competing for Myanmar National League

Myanmar National League

The Myanmar National League is the premier national professional football league of Myanmar. In 2009, the league replaced the Myanmar Premier League, which consisted only of 14 Yangon-based football clubs, with eight professional clubs representing different regions across the nation...

 (MNL) title. His son is chairman of the club.

Sanctions

In 2007, following protests against the junta on the streets of many cities in Burma, the United States government imposed sanctions against Tay Za and the companies he controls including Htoo Trading and Air Bagan.

On 19 May 2010, his son, Pye Phyo Tay Za, lost a legal battle to overturn European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 sanctions against him at the Council of the European Union

Council of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...

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