Royal Golden Eagle
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Royal Golden Eagle (RGE, also known as Raja Garuda Emas, previously Raja Garuda Mas) is a global integrated, resource-based industrial group, with businesses in paper, palm oil, viscose, construction and energy, property and asset management. Owned by Indonesian businessman
Sukanto Tanoto Sukanto Tanoto, born Tan Kang Hoo ( zh, , , t=陳江和, poj=Tân Kang Hām; born 25 December 1949) is an Indonesian businessman primarily involved in resources-based manufacturing. After starting as a supplier of equipment and materials for the ...
, the group employs 80,000 people worldwide with assets exceeding
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
35 billion.


History

Sukanto Tanoto Sukanto Tanoto, born Tan Kang Hoo ( zh, , , t=陳江和, poj=Tân Kang Hām; born 25 December 1949) is an Indonesian businessman primarily involved in resources-based manufacturing. After starting as a supplier of equipment and materials for the ...
founded his first business in 1967, supplying spare parts to the oil and construction industries in Indonesia, before winning contracts in building gas pipelines for multinationals in 1972. His business grew considerably following the
1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
when he open his own plywood mill in Indonesia. He diversified into palm oil in 1979. Since 1985, Tanoto’s companies have planted 30,000 acres of palm oil plantation each year, with plantations spread over three provinces in Sumatra with a total land area of 160,000 hectares. He listed the public pulp and paper business Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings (APRIL) on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995, delisting it in 2001. The company moved its base to Singapore in 1997 in order to mitigate the effects of a global travel ban that had been placed upon Indonesia at the time. In 2011 APRIL became a founding member of the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development.


Business structure

From its base in Singapore, the company conducts activities across four business sectors: pulp and paper; agro industry; dissolving wood pulp and viscose staple fibre; and energy resource development.


Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL)

Located in the
Riau province Riau ( Jawi: ) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Barisan Mountains to the Malacca Strait, including several large islands situated within ...
of Indonesia,
APRIL April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Its length is 30 days. April is commonly associated with the season of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the ...
operates one of the world’s largest pulp and paper mills."APRIL's commitment to being part of the 'sustainability solution',"
Business 2020, November 2011
With an annual pulp production capacity of 2.8 million tons and an annual fine paper production capacity of 820,000 tons, it generates employment opportunities for 90,000 local people and represents 6.9% of Riau Province’s economic output (2009). In 2024, APRIL acquired
Vinda International Vinda International Holdings Limited (Vinda) (, ) is a major hygiene company in Asia, specializing in the manufacturing and sale of tissue paper and personal care products. Founded in 1985, the company has established a significant presence in mul ...
.


Asia Symbol

Established in
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
and
Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...
, China in 2005, Asia Symbol has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons of pulp, 450,000 tons of fine paper and 520,000 tons of paper board. Its Shandong plant operates the world’s largest single pulp production line, with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and environment protection practices. BoardOne (博旺 in Chinese) is the main brand of paperboard products produced by the Shandong mill. It includes several types of packaging, including packaging for food, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals products. BoardOne can be found in Europe, Americas, ME and Asia market. BoardOne is featured with printability, and runnability on high speed packaging lines. There are two lines producing BoardOne products. BM11 has a web width of 3.6m, grammage range of 190-380g, main products are FBB and SBS; BM12 has a web width of 4.6m, grammage range of 170-400g, mainly LPB, cigarette packaging boards and
food packaging Food packaging is a packaging system specifically designed for food and represents one of the most important aspects among the processes involved in the food industry, as it provides protection from chemical, biological and physical alterations ...
/service boards (cup stock and cup plate etc.). There are two pulp lines located in Shandong mill. BHKP and BSKP can be supplied internally for BoardOne board making.


Asian Agri

Asian Agri is one of Asia’s largest
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 ...
producers, with an annual crude palm oil production capacity of one million tons with 28 oil palm plantations, 19 palm oil mills and 160,000 hectares of palm plantation.


Apical Group Limited

Apical, with operations in Indonesia and China, is one Indonesia's largest exporters of palm oil with refining, processing and trading of palm oil for both domestic use and international export. The company's operations in include four refineries, a biodiesel plant and a crushing plant.


Bracell

Bracell is one of the largest specialty cellulose producers in the world. Its operations are in Brazil. It produces different grades of specialty cellulose. It was formerly known as Sateri Holdings Limited, which undergone a name change on February 26, 2015. Bracell was privatized on Oct 24, 2016. RGE completed the acquisition of Lwarcel Celulose from Lwart Group on Aug 31, 2018. Lwarcel will be managed under Bracell Group.


Sateri

Sateri is a viscose staple fiber producers, with a design annual production capacity of 1.4 million tonnes of viscose staple fiber. In 2018, Sateri reported to have three mills with a combined capacity of 600,000 metric tonnes, making it the largest viscose producer in China and third largest in the world.


Asia Pacific Rayon

Asia Pacific Rayon is the first fully integrated viscose rayon producer in Asia, with a 240,000-tonne capacity mill located in
Pangkalan Kerinci Pangkalan Kerinci ( Jawi: ڤڠكالن كرينچي ) is a town and district in Pelalawan Regency, of Riau province of Indonesia. The town is the administrative capital of Pelalawan Regency. In 1993, Pangkalan Kerinci was a small village in the S ...
.


Pacific Energy

Pacific Energy (previously known as Pacific Oil & Gas) is an independent energy resources development company. In the upstream sector, Pacific Energy is focused on the exploration and production of gas in Canada. Its midstream and downstream operations include a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal and a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant in China. In addition, it is currently developing
gas-fired power plant A gas-fired power plant, sometimes referred to as gas-fired power station, natural gas power plant, or methane gas power plant, is a thermal power station that burns natural gas to generate electricity. Gas-fired power plants generate almost a ...
s in China and an LNG export facility in Canada.


Environmental issues

In 2014, Royal Golden Eagle was under considerable pressure from international environmental organisations to improve: *
World Business Council for Sustainable Development The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led organization of over 225 international companies. The council is also connected to 60 national and regional business councils and partner organizations. Its origins da ...
told APRIL that it would be expelled from the organisation if it did not end deforestation within 12 months, noting a government estimate that 60% of its pulp came from the rainforest. It also recommended that all Royal Golden Eagle companies should be included in the commitment, not just APRIL. *The
Worldwide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...
(WWF) gave a cautious response to APRIL's announced Sustainable Forest Management Policy, noting that the policies did not go far enough and that previous commitments had not been honoured. It recommends that external parties should 'wait and see' before sourcing or investing in APRIL or associated businesses. *
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
claimed that APRIL, along with its sister companies, "is the greatest threat to the Indonesian rainforest". In June 2015, both Greenpeace and WWF welcomed the commitments made by RGE and APRIL to zero deforestation across their supply chains. In December 2015, APRIL announced a US$100 million investment in conservation and eco-restoration of peatland in Riau, spanning 150,000 hectares. The company and its business groups engage local communities and NGOs to develop programs for community development and fire prevention, to great success. In 2011 the
Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gra ...
named
APRIL April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Its length is 30 days. April is commonly associated with the season of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the ...
as one of Indonesia’s most destructive corporations cutting
rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
s and replacing them with monoculture
acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...
pulp wood
plantations Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...
grown on these cleared rainforests and
peatland A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of Soil organic matter, organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, du ...
s. APRIL and another major company under separate ownership,
Asia Pulp & Paper Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is an Indonesian pulp and paper company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. One of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world, it was founded as Tjiwi Kimia by Eka Tjipta Widjaja in 1972. Asia Pulp & Paper is a subsidi ...
, produce 80 percent of Indonesia’s
pulp and paper The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products. Manufacturing process In the manufacturing process, pulp is introd ...
.


Controversy


Tax evasion

Asian Agri was investigated for allegedly evading taxes between 2002 and 2005, which the company consistently denied. In December 2012, the
Supreme Court of Indonesia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia () is the independent judicial arm of the state. It maintains a system of courts and sits above the other courts and is the final court of appeal. It can also re-examine cases if new evidence emerg ...
ordered Asian Agri Group to pay Rp2.52 trillion (US$260 million) in back taxes and fines as vicarious liability, The company paid the back tax and in January 2014 paid the fine saying it would still file a judicial review. Indonesia’s
Tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
magazine was found guilty by the Jakarta court of defaming the company in an investigative report looking into these matters, which were published in the book Key Witness.


Deutsche Bank controversy

Beckett Pte Ltd, 29% of which is indirectly owned by Sukanto Tanoto, was in legal disputes against Deutsche Bank, claiming that the bank had pledged shares, owned directly or indirectly by Beckett Pte Ltd in PT Swabara Mining and Energy, PT Asminco Bara Utama, PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal and PT Adaro Indonesia without due process and at an undervalue. Singapore's High Court found in favour of Deutsche Bank. The High Court did however state that Deutsche Bank had "failed to discharge its duties as pledgee" in a share sale.


See also

*
Deforestation in Indonesia Deforestation in Indonesia involves the long-term loss of forests and foliage across much of the country; it has had massive environmental and social impacts. Indonesia is home to some of the most biologically diverse forests in the world and r ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em Indonesian brands Conglomerate companies of Indonesia Pulp and paper companies of Indonesia