Anthoni Salim
Quick Facts
Biography
Anthoni Salim, also known as Liem Hong Sien (Hanzi: 林逢生, born 1949) is a Chinese-Indonesian businessman. He is the head of the Salim Group which conducts business all over Indonesia. As of 2019, he is the sixth wealthiest person in Indonesia with a net worth of 5.5 billion dollars).
Early life
Anthoni Salim was born as the youngest son of Sudono Salim and Lie Las Nio. His father was the founder of the Salim Group, which Anthoni took over after his father's death. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in 1971 at Ewell County Technical College in the United Kingdom.. Despite not well-performing in his studies, after returning to Indonesia, he became a talented businessman. . During the May 1998 riots of Indonesia, his family's home was set on fire and he fled to Singapore.
If your house is already burned, the next thing they would try to do is get the people, you don't want to get caught in the middle of something like that.
— Anthoni Salim
He came back to Jakarta to rebuild his company and to pay off the $5 billion debt.
Career
In 1998, during the Indonesian monetary crisis, his father handed down the company to Anthoni while the company had high debts. Now, he controls many of Salim Group's subsidiaries such as Indofood, Indomaret. He is the Chairman of First Pacific since 2003, after serving as a director since 1981.
He is listed as substantial shareholder (74%) of Indofood Agri Resources, a Singaporean agriculture holding company often criticized for working with dubious shadow-companies embezzled in obtaining palm oil from undisclosed, contested land.
Family
At the age of 25, Salim married Siti Margareth Jusuf. He has three children.
His oldest son Axton (born 1979) studied Business Administration in Colorado and has leading roles in Salim Group's companies. He is a director of Indofood since 2009, and non-executive director of IndoAgri since 2007. His youngest son Alston has become a fashion designer and cosplayer.