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PT Djarum
Djarum is an Indonesian company that makes and sells kretek cigarettes and also owns a big stake in one of Indonesia's largest banks.
Djarum makes kretek cigarettes — the clove-scented smokes that are a huge part of smoking culture in Indonesia. It is one of the country's biggest cigarette makers, selling brands like Djarum Super, Djarum Black, and LA Lights to millions of smokers across the archipelago. The business dates back to 1951, when founder Oei Wie Gwan bought a small, struggling cigarette company and named it after a brand he already owned. He is said to have chosen the name partly because he heard the rattle of clove cigarettes — "djarum" means needle in Indonesian — and stuck with it.
The real money engine, though, is not just cigarettes. In 2004, Djarum's owners bought a controlling stake in Bank Central Asia, Bank Central Asia, one of Indonesia's largest and most profitable banks. That single investment has turned the family behind Djarum into one of the wealthiest in Indonesia. Today Djarum's holding arm, PT Dwimuria Investama Andalan, owns a big chunk of the bank, and the dividends from BCA are enormous compared with what the cigarette business throws off. This matters because cigarette sales in Indonesia are under pressure from stricter regulation and changing habits, while the bank keeps printing money. Djarum is a private company, so it does not report quarterly figures the way a listed business would, and its owners have stayed famously low-key. But the family's wealth is no secret: Forbes has repeatedly ranked the Hartono family at or near the top of Indonesia's rich list, largely thanks to the BCA stake. The company has also branched into other interests over the years, including a stake in the electronics maker Polytron, which it reportedly bought in the 2010s.
The core tension for Djarum is simple. Its cigarette brands are iconic in Indonesia, and kretek smoking is deeply woven into the country's culture. But cigarette regulation has tightened, and the business faces rising excise taxes and public health campaigns. The bank stake, meanwhile, is a steady, cash-rich asset that gives the family a cushion most tobacco firms do not have. So when you see Djarum, think of a family-owned cigarette maker whose real financial engine has quietly become a bank.
Saved answer · last researched 10 Nov 2026