Bob's empire continues to branch out

JAKARTA (JP): Mohamad (Bob) Hasan has become one of the most talked about businessman in the capital market following his surprising takeover move against Astra International in the last few weeks.

But only a few people know how rich he really is.

Hasan, more popularly called by his nickname Bob, might have spent at least Rp 1 trillion (US$425 million) buying the automotive company's shares. The purchase means he controls more than 20 percent of the automobile giant.

The takeover was made through PT Nusantara Ampera Bhakti (Nusamba), a business group 80 percent owned by three charity foundations chaired by President Soeharto, 10 percent by Bob himself and the remaining 10 percent by the President's eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto.

However many believe the massive deal was mostly financed with his own personal funds.

On Oct. 24, Nusamba bought 144 million Astra shares for Rp 603 billion or at Rp 4,100 each, allowing Bob to control 10.6 percent of the automotive giant. And this was just the start to Nusamba's ambitious attempt to control a majority stake in the company.

Analysts said that the takeover attempt continued on the following days, enabling Nusamba to gain control of more than 20 percent of the country's largest automotive group.

Under such a scenario, Bob's company might have spent more than Rp 1 trillion buying the Astra shares within a two-week period.

Bob is not only popular in business circles but also in the sporting world. And everyone knows that he is one of the President's closest associates, with a number of business interests. And he is a timber tycoon as well as a loyal financier of Indonesian athletics.

How rich is he? This is every body's question and Bob is not prepared to say. A look at his assets however shows that he is not likely to be down to his last rupiah in the near future.

According to Thomas Wibisono, an executive of the Indonesian Business Data Center, Bob personally controls at least 100 business entities operating a wide range of business activities.

At present, Bob might even control a majority stake in Nusamba, which controls Bank Duta and a number of companies operating in various business activities ranging from trading to manufacturing.

Thomas said that in the early stages of its establishment in the 1980s, Nusamba was controlled by the three charity foundations headed by the President -- Yayasan Supersemar, Yayasan Dharmais and Yayasan Dakab -- before the company's paid- up capital was raised to Rp 10 billion in 1992.

A larger part of the company's capital came from Bob personally, indicating that most of the company's shares had changed to his hands.

In his report published in the Bisnis Indonesia daily, Thomas said that Bob, born in 1931 in Semarang under his Chinese name The Kian Seng, entered business as early as 1958.

In that year, Bob, who got acquainted with Soeharto when the latter was a military commander in Central Java in the early 1960s, established a trading company, PT Dwi Bhakti, in cooperation with state-owned NV Sinar Bumi.

In 1967, he established a shipping company called PT Karana Line in partnership with Bambang Sarjono, the son of the late General Gatot Subroto, who was also his foster father.

In 1970, Bob established three other companies -- PT Lifetime Industries, PT United Indo Survey and PT Georgia Pacific Indonesia (GPI). Lifetime and United Indo are no longer active.

GPI, a timber company established in cooperation with the United States-based timber giant Georgia International, owns a concession covering more than 350,000 hectares of dense forest in East Kalimantan.

To support his timber production, Bob and the American firm formed three more companies to operate in the downstream industries. They are PT Kalimanis Plywood, established in 1973, PT Santi Murni Plywood, set up in 1980, which are both based in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, while the other one is PT Kertas Kraft Aceh, which was founded in 1980 in Aceh to produce kraft paper.

Thomas said Bob later bought the American company's stake in the four companies and then changed the name of GPI to PT Kiani Lestari.

Bob's achievements were not so impressive during the 1970s, during which time he established only nine business entities.

The other five companies set up during the nine-year period were PT PD Pasopati (trading firm), PT Serva Portion Indonesia, (food producer), PT Sarana Buana Handara Country Club, (resort developer), PT Alas Helau (timber company) and PT Rawayana Makmur (trading firm).

In the 1980s, his business activities grew more rapidly. In that period, Bob established 14 new businesses and took over five other firms from other businessmen.

The 14 companies included PT Saripermindo (trading firm) PT Tehnusamba Indah (one of the country's major tea producers), PT Fendi Indah, PT Fedi Mungil, PT Fendi Murni, PT Kiani Kreasi, PT Sandi Furni (all furniture producers), PT Santi Murni Plywood, PT Suara Indah Wood Industries.

The five acquired companies comprised PT Sumber Murni Timber, PT Sarpindo Soybean Industri, PT Gatari Air Service, PT Aspex Paper and PT Mapindo Paramana.

In the following years, Bob's business activities grew more impressively. In 1990, for example, he established three new firms, PT Kiani Winalestari, PT Tanjung Redeb Hutan Tanaman Industri and PT Takengon Tusam Lestari, all operating in forestry-related industries.

In the same year, Bob also acquired a majority stake in Bank Umum National, which was once wholly owned by Kaharudin Ongko.

In 1991, Bob made another move, establishing three more companies, PT Bunas Grahapratama, an office building operator, PT Inforkarya Aksaracentra, a publishing firm, and PT Kiani Kertas, a pulp and paper plant with total investment of around Rp 1.6 trillion.

In 1992, Bob established PT Kiani Hutani Lestari, an industrial forest developer to support his pulp and paper plant. Also in the same year, he and President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra jointly took over a majority stake in Sempati Air.

Thomas did not mention the total value of Bob's assets.

His most lucrative businesses, he said, are those in forestry- related sectors. Bob's forest concession areas cover more than 505,000 hectares, with an average production of around 365,000 cubic meters of timber a year. (hen)