Prajogo Pangestu


Prajogo Pangestu, born Phang Djun Phen in 1944, is an Indonesian business magnate, investor, and philanthropist of Hakka Chinese descent. He owns and founded Barito Pacific Group which engages in forestry, petrochemicals, property, plantation, oil and gas, coal and gold mining, as well as geothermal. In 2019, he was ranked as the 3rd richest person in Indonesia by Forbes..

Biography

Pangestu was born on 13 May 1944 in Benkayang, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, to a Hakka family from Guangdong, China. He attended Chinese schools in Indonesia and moved to Jakarta in 1965. In 1970, Pangestu joined Burhan Uray's timber company Djajanti Group and was appointed by Uray as general manager of PT Nusantara in 1976. He left Djajanti in 1977 and launched his own business.
One of the companies controlled by Prajogo, PT Barito Pacific Timber Tbk, as of 1993 was the largest company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. In 2007, the company dropped the word "Timber" to reflect the diversified scope of its businesses.
Aside from PT Barito Pacific Tbk which controls Indonesia's largest petrochemical producer, PT Chandra Asri Petrochemicals Tbk, Prajogo Pangestu also controls Star Energy, one of the largest oil & gas, as well as geothermal company in Indonesia. Both Chandra Asri and Star Energy remain as the two main business subsidiaries of Barito Pacific.
As of 2009, Barito Pacific also owns the Transpacific Group, which has an 80% stake in Transpacific Railway Infrastructure.