Supporting Capital Market Reforms, Prajogo Pangestu Reduces Share Ownership

Indonesia’s richest person, Prajogo Pangestu, has started selling off a small portion of his shareholdings in several companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI). This is in response to stock market regulations that have doubled the minimum public float requirement. Citing VnExpress on Saturday, 18 April 2026, Prajogo is recorded as having sold 0.56 per cent of his stake in the mining issuer PT Petrindo Jaya Kreasi Tbk. This sale action reduced Prajogo’s ownership in the company to 82.86 per cent to increase the portion of circulating shares. A similar step was applied to his renewable energy business line. Green Era Energi, an entity affiliated with Prajogo, sold 0.2 per cent of its shares in PT Barito Renewables Energy Tbk in the early part of last week. Supporting capital market reforms The actions by this controlling shareholder are occurring amid intense pushes for capital market reforms by the regulator. This was triggered by a strong warning from the MSCI index provider at the end of January, which opened the possibility of downgrading Indonesia’s stock market status to emerging market. MSCI highlighted fundamental issues related to investment eligibility in Indonesia, including a lack of transparency in share ownership structures and stock trading in the market. “Fundamental issues related to investment eligibility arising from opaque ownership structures, and concerns about the possibility of coordinated trading behaviour that harms proper price formation,” wrote Nikkei Asia, quoted by VnExpress. In response to this pressure, the BEI revised the provisions on the number of free-floating shares, requiring each issuer to have at least 15 per cent of shares circulating in the public, up from the previous requirement of 7.5 per cent. The BEI has provided a transition period of up to three years for issuers to comply with the new provisions, while tightening rules on disclosure of information for larger shareholders and issuing lists of shares with high shareholder concentration. According to BEI data, there are currently 267 listed companies that have not yet met the 15 per cent free-float threshold. Interestingly, Prajogo’s sale of Petrindo shares is seen as a positive signal to stimulate market liquidity because the mining issuer had already complied with the 15.9 per cent free-float threshold in December. Head of research at brokerage firm BCA Sekuritas, Christopher Andre Benas, said that Pangestu wants to demonstrate a proactive stance in complying with regulatory directions and hopes that other tycoons and controlling shareholders will follow his lead. The market dynamics following the MSCI warning and rule adjustments briefly triggered massive sell-off actions that also pressured the valuation of Prajogo’s investment portfolio at the beginning of the year. The conglomerate, who controls the Barito Pacific Group business empire, was named by Forbes as Indonesia’s richest person in December last year, with estimated wealth exceeding USD39.8 billion. That wealth is supported by his ownership in sectors such as petrochemicals, geothermal energy, renewable energy, and coal. Referring to the Forbes update as of 14 April 2026, Prajogo Pangestu’s net worth is currently projected to be around USD27.4 billion.