Fuganto Widjaja (born 1980/1981) is an Indonesian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

businessman. Fuganto Widjaja is the grandson of Eka Tjipta Widjaja, the founder of the

Sinar Mas Group Sinar Mas is one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia. It was formed in 1938. It has numerous subsidiaries including Asia Pulp & Paper and palm oil producer PT SMART. The company also acquired Berau Coal Energy from Asia Resource Minerals ...

, an Indonesian

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

and property conglomerate started before the Second World War. In April 2015, he revealed a surprise takeover bid for

Asia Resource Minerals Asia Resource Minerals plc was a mining company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was previously also known as Bumi Plc and Vallar Plc, a SPAC sponsored by Nathaniel Rothschild. History Vallar Plc In July 2010 Vallar Plc, a Jersey-incorpo ...

, the coal mining company founded by Nathaniel Rothschild.

Early life and education

Widjaja attended high school in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, before earning a bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Economics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 2003, and an Masters Degree in Finance from the

Cambridge Judge Business School Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school. The School is a department of the u ...

in 2004.

Career

After a stint at UBS, Widjaja founded Pristine Brand mineral water, before becoming a director of Sinar Mas Multiartha, holding company of Sinar Mas Financial services. Fuganto Widjaja is Director at Sinar Mas Multihara TBK. He is also the Group Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director at Golden Energy & Resources Ltd (GEAR). GEAR is a subsidiary (formerly listed in Singapore) of the Sinar Mas Group focused on coal mining. Sinar Mas Group is active in six business pillars—Pulp & Paper, Agri-business & Food, Financial Services, Developer & Real Estate, Communications & Technology, and in Energy & Infrastructure. An heir to the large family-owned conglomerate, Widjaja is on a mission to modernise the family business. He is shifting the business to focus on energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and education. As an entrepreneur, he believes in starting and creating new things that people need. In April 2019, Widjaja launched Gear Innovation Network, a tech innovation centre by GEAR in Singapore. The centre was established with an initial investment of US$2 million and supported by the Economic Development Board in Singapore. Gear Innovation Network focuses on transforming capital-intensive industries such as mining, logistics and construction through digital technologies in Southeast Asia.

2015 Asia Resources Minerals acquisition

In April 2015, he revealed a surprise takeover bid by Asia Coal Energy Ventures, a Sinar Mas subsidiary, for

(founded by Nathaniel Rothschild), a company whose remaining principal asset was Berau Coal. This was a surprise takeover as past contenders had failed to secure a majority stake in the company. It was also viewed as a move that restored confidence in the Indonesian's ownership of a sizeable mining venture. Widjaja shared with the media that the investment was to support the Indonesian government's aim to boost electricity supply for the country through coal. Under Widjaja's leadership, Berau Coal received an award for its corporate social responsibility program at the 2019 ASEAN Coal Award. As part of this program, the company assisted the Punan Basap Tribe in a resettlement project. Widjaja also received an award as a TOP leader on CSR Community 2018. This is an award organised by TOP Business.

2022 BHP's Australian coal mines acquisition

In 2022, GEAR completed the acquisition of an 80% stake in coal miner BHP Mitsui Coal (a subsidiary of

BHP BHP Group Limited, founded as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, is an Australian multinational mining and metals corporation. BHP was established in August 1885 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. As of 2024, BHP was the world� ...

) for $1.2 billion. The remaining 20% stake in the joint venture is owned by Japanese conglomerate Mitsui. BHP Mitsui Coal has three coal mines located in Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia with combined marketable metallurgical coal reserves of 180 million metric tonnes and revenue of $989 million in 2021. The Russia-Ukraine crisis that has disrupted supply chains, counter-party risk due to sanctions as well as rising prices throughout Asian markets has caused Newcastle physical prices to reach $400 per tonne while Metallurgical and PCI (pulverised coal injection) prices also skyrocketed nearing $400 per tonne respectively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widjaja, Fuganto Living people Indonesian billionaires 1980s births Cornell University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Year of birth missing (living people)