How it started
History
H. Achmad Bakrie founded Bakrie & Brothers (then known as N.V. Bakrie & Brothers) in 1942 in Telukbetung, South Sumatera. Bakrie & Brothers was established as a general trading and distribution company.
In the 1950s, the Bakrie Group’s business activities expanded to include general trading, construction services, agribusiness, coal mining, oil and gas, and telecommunications, while continuing to develop manufacturing operations such as making steel pipes, building materials, and automotive components.
In 1986, Bakrie & Brothers acquired a 75% stake in the local rubber plantation company PT Uniroyal Sumatera Plantations (UNSP), which was later renamed PT Bakrie Sumatera Plantations. In 1989, Bakrie & Brothers was listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (now the Indonesia Stock Exchange), under the stock trading symbol BNBR.
Bakrie Group diversified into the media and telecommunications business in the 1990s. A local TV station, PT. Cakrawala Andalas Televisi (ANTV), was founded in 1992, and started to broadcast nationally in 1993. Also in 1993, Bakrie Group obtained the license to operate fixed wireless telecommunication and entered the telecommunications sector with PT. Bakrie Telecom.
In 2001, Bakrie Group entered the gas and oil sector with the founding of PT. Energi Mega Persada (ENRG), a company focused on developing and exploring for oil and gas in Indonesia. Bakrie Group also acquired 80% of the coal mining company PT Arutmin Indonesia (Arutmin) from BHP Billiton, PT Kaltim Prima Coal from British Petroleum (BP), and Rio Tinto, in 2003.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bakrie Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2