Owned by Indonesian businessman Sukanto Tanoto, the group employs 80,000 people worldwide with assets exceeding US$35 billion.
[1][2] Sukanto Tanoto founded his first business in 1967, supplying spare parts to the oil and construction industries in Indonesia,[3] before winning contracts in building gas pipelines for multinationals in 1972.
[5] He listed the public pulp and paper business Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings (APRIL) on the New York Stock Exchange in 1995, delisting it in 2001.
[6] The company moved its base to Singapore in 1997 in order to mitigate the effects of a global travel ban that had been placed upon Indonesia at the time.
[5] Located in the Riau province of Indonesia, APRIL operates one of the world’s largest pulp and paper mills.
Its Shandong plant operates the world’s largest single pulp production line, with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and environment protection practices.
[22] In 2014, Royal Golden Eagle was under considerable pressure from international environmental organisations to improve: In June 2015, both Greenpeace and WWF welcomed the commitments made by RGE and APRIL to zero deforestation across their supply chains.
[26][27][28] In December 2015, APRIL announced a US$100 million investment in conservation and eco-restoration of peatland in Riau, spanning 150,000 hectares.
[34] In December 2012, the Supreme Court of Indonesia ordered Asian Agri Group to pay Rp2.52 trillion (US$260 million) in back taxes and fines as vicarious liability,[35] The company paid the back tax and in January 2014 paid the fine[36] saying it would still file a judicial review.
[37] Indonesia’s Tempo magazine was found guilty by the Jakarta court of defaming the company in an investigative report looking into these matters, which were published in the book Key Witness.