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What Aburizal Bakrie wants, he gets. His long running battle with former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani aside, the head of the Bakrie clan has been on a decade long winning streak. He took over the family business empire in 1998 when it was crippled with debt, and set about rebuilding it.

He drove its aggressive survival and expansion strategy by acquiring strategic natural resource assets, including the jewel in the group’s crown, Bumi Resources. The chairman of Golkar, is now widely considered the second most powerful man in the country and a front-runner for the 2014 presidential elections.

Bumi Resources, the jewel in the Bakrie business empire, has just reported a net profit $97 million for the first quarter of 2010 as a result of oneoff sale of stakes in some companies. Operating profit, however, was down 60 percent year-on-year as the company started paying higher tax and interest costs.

A just released CLSA report notes that the company’s financial results have never been straightforward to analyze. The recent Supreme Court decision on its tax obligations should however remove some uncertainty going forward.

Coming in at number four on the GlobeAsia 2010 150 Richest Indonesians list with a net-worth of $2.6 billion, Aburizal, or Ical as he is popularly called, is also the most likely to occupy the top spot on the list in the next five years.

His sprawling business empire is well positioned in strategic industries such as coal, palm oil, telecommunications, property, media and heavy industries. Backed by cash from Chinese banks, he acquired a 24 percent stake in copper and gold miner PT Newmont Nusa Tanggera last December and is on the hunt for more mining assets.

The total market capitalization of his seven listed companies is estimated at a whopping Rp78 trillion and Bakrie companies are among the most actively traded stocks on the Indonesian Stock Exchange.

Given his appetite for expansion, Ical is likely to emerge as Indonesia’s richest man in the not too distant future. He did occupy the top spot on GlobeAsia’s rich list in 2008 but saw his fortune plunge last year when equity markets collapsed. But as before he is back stronger than ever.

If plans for an Initial Public Offering of new vehicle Bumi Resources Mineral go ahead as planned, Ican could raise between $500 million to $1 billion later this year. That would allow him to continue building his vast corporate empire.

Globe Asia magazine, a sister publication of the Jakarta Globe, is out now.


Top 5 gainers in 2010

1.) Martua Sitorus, up $1.2 billion

2.) Anthony Salim, up $920 million

3.) Eka Tjipta Wijaya, up $800 million

4.) Aburizal Bakrie, up $750 million

5.) Budi Hartono, up $700 million