Success Story Prajogo Pangestu Founder of Wood Factory PT Bumi Raya Pura Mas Kalimantan

This 71-year-old man was previously known as the largest timber tycoon in Indonesia, which later expanded his business to various sectors. Prajogo had listed his name as the richest businessman in Indonesia, ranked 48th with assets of US $ 570 million, according to Forbes research last year.

In 1979 he founded PT Bumi Raya Pura Mas Kalimantan, which became known as the Barito Pacific Group.

Prajogo then enlivened the Indonesian capital market by releasing 85 million shares of PT Barito Pacific Timber Tbk in 1993. In its journey, the company decided to add business lines and changed its name to PT Barito Pacific Tbk in 2007. The diversification of the business line made the name ‘Timber’ finally abandoned .

In the same year, the company also acquired 70 percent of the shares of PT Chandra Asri, the only olefin producer in Indonesia at that time. Barito Pacific business octopus does not stop there, in 2008 the company also annexed PT Tri Polyta Indonesia Tbk, one of the largest polypropylene producers.

Then in 2011, PT Chandra Asri and PT Tri Polyta Indonesia Tbk were merged into PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk, the largest integrated petrochemical producer in Indonesia.

Unfortunately, the weakening of commodity prices and the world economy made the company’s stock performance decline this year. Since the beginning of the year (year to date), Barito Pacific’s stock price has collapsed 57.43 percent to Rp 129 per share from the previous Rp 303 per share.