Prajogo Pangestu (born Phang Djun Phen) was the son of a rubber trader. His family were of Hakka origin, from Guangdong, so he attended Chinese schools. He moved to Jakarta in 1965, and got his first job five years later at the Djajanti Group, a timber company, working his way up to general manager within six years. A year later, in 1977, Pangestu resigned and set up his own company PT Barito Pacific Timber.

The company went public in 1993, the largest company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange at that time. As a result of it changing its focus away from timber became simply Barito Pacific in 2007, the same year it bought a 70% share of Chandra Asri, a petrochemical company. Four years later, Chandra Asri and Tri Polyta Indonesia merged, creating Indonesia’s largest petrochemical producer.

Star Energy is another of the companies that falls within the Barito Pacific umbrella, and is one of the largest geothermal and gas company in the country. The group also has an 80% stake, through the Transpacific Group, in the Transpacific Railway Infrastructure.