He is the founder of the Indonesian conglomerate Barito Pacific Group, which engages in forestry, plantations, oil and gas, coal, gold mining, and geothermal energy.
[1] Pangestu was born on 13 May 1944, in Bengkayang, West Kalimantan, into a Hakka family from Guangdong, China.
[2] In 1970, he joined Burhan Uray's timber company Djajanti Group and became the general manager of PT Nusantara in 1976.
In addition to PT Barito Pacific Tbk, which manages Indonesia's largest petrochemical producer, PT Chandra Asri Pacific Tbk, he controls Barito Renewables, which owns Star Energy Geothermal, a leading geothermal company.
[4] In March 2022, it was announced that Green Era, a Singapore-based company controlled by Prajogo, acquired 33.33% of Star Energy from Thailand’s BCPG for \$440 million, giving him full control of Star Energy.