Indonesia’s third-richest person died, leaving behind Rs 87.92 trillion of wealth

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia’s third richest billionaire, Tan Siok Tjien, has died. Tan Siok Tjien is the wife of the late Surya Wonowidjojo, founder of PT Gudang Garam Tbk (GGRM), a cigarette company based in Kediri, East Java.

Tan Siok Tjien died on Sunday (10/25/2020) at the age of 91 and was buried on Tuesday (10/27/2020).

Tan Siok Tjien is one of the richest people in Indonesia. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index noted that Tan Siok Tjien’s assets reached $ 5.96 billion as of Tuesday (10/27/2020). This amount is equal to 87.92 trillion IDR (exchange rate of 14,752 IDR per US dollar).

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The value of Tan’s wealth has fallen by $ 1.86 billion or 23.8 percent since the beginning of this year.

Tan Siok Tjien is among the 369 richest people in the world and the third richest person in Indonesia.

Tan controls Gudang Garam, a cigarette producer with about a quarter of the Indonesian tobacco market. Founded by her late husband, Surya Wonowidjojo, this Kediri-based company is legendary and is known for producing kretek cigarettes.

Citing Bloomberg, Gudang Garam employs around 32,000 workers and reports revenue of $ 7.8 billion in 2019.

Most of Tan’s wealth comes from a 76 percent stake in cigarette producer Gudang Garam, according to the company’s 2019 annual report.

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Tan Siok Tjien inherited her wealth from her late husband, Surya Wonowidjojo, and the shares are held through PT Suryaduta Investama and Suryamitra Kusuma, according to the company’s 2019 annual report.

Currently, PT Suryaduta Investama is GGRM’s largest shareholder with 69.29 percent of shares. Followed by public shareholders who own 24.45 percent of the shares. In addition to PT Suryamitra, Kusuma owns 6.26 percent of the shares of GGRM.

Tan and her children inherited Gudang Garam after her husband Surya Wonowidjojo died in 1985.

Cite description in Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Surya Wonowidjojo is an immigrant from Fujian province in China, and began establishing Gudang Garam in 1958 by making hand-rolled cigarettes with native Indonesian tobacco and clove spices.

These cigarettes are known as kretek because of the crunch that occurs when aromatic spices burn.

As sales increased, the family built more factories and introduced machine-produced kreteks about two decades later, making Gudang Garam the largest cigarette maker in Indonesia. (Khomarul Hidayat)

This news has been broadcast on Kontan.co.id with the headline: Indonesia’s third richest billionaire has died, leaving a wealth of 87.92 trillion IDR.