The Gunawan Steel Group was an Indonesian steel group founded 1989, which owned several Steel works in Southeast Asia. The group's companies were taken over by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (''Badan Penyehatan perbankan Nasional'', BPPN) in 1998 following financial problems as a result of the

1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

. As of 2012 the subsidiary ''Gunawan Dianjaya Steel'' remains in business, the plate mill of ''Gunawan Iron and Steel'' was acquired by

Lion Group Lion Group Malaysia is headed by chairman and chief executive officer William Cheng. Cheng's grandfather founded Lion as a small trading company in Singapore after leaving China in the 1920s. It became Malaysia's biggest steel manufacturer afte ...

and operates as ''Lion Plant Mill Sdn Bhd'',

History and description

The group consisted of three steel industry companies; Gunawan Dian Steel Pipe (GDSP) based in

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

, Indonesia; Gunawan Iron and Steel (GIS) based in

Kuala Terengganu , image_seal = Seal of Kuala Terengganu City Council.png , image_flag = Flag of Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu.svg , image_skyline = , image_caption = From top, left to right:The Crystal Mosq ...

, Malaysia and Gunawan Dianjaya Steel (GDS) (Surabaya, Indonesia). GDSP produced electric resistance welded steel pipe and had a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year (2008 figure). GDS had a production capacity of 400,000 tonnes of plate per year. GIS's steel plant was created in the late 1990s through the re-assembly of equipment acquired from steel works in Europe; a $760 million development plan included equipment acquired from the closed

Ravenscraig steelworks The Ravenscraig steelworks, operated by Colvilles and from 1967 by British Steel Corporation, consisted of an integrated iron and steel works and a hot strip steel mill. They were located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Motherwell ...

in Scotland, Blast furnace capacity was acquired from

Koninklijke Hoogovens Koninklijke Hoogovens known as Koninklijke Nederlandse Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken (KNHS) until 1996 or informally Hoogovens. was a Dutch steel producer founded in 1918. Since 2010, the plant is named Tata Steel IJmuiden. The IJmuiden steelwor ...

by dismantling and shipping a disused blast furnace, a LD-converter was acquired from Voest Alpine. The company had a capacity of 250,000 tonnes of plate per year; the Terengganu state had a 30% stake in the company. After the

the groups companies had debts of 1.45 trillion

Indonesian rupiah The rupiah (Currency symbol, symbol: Rp; ISO 4217, currency code: IDR) is the official currency of Indonesia. It is issued and controlled by Bank Indonesia. The name "Rupee, rupiah" is derived from the Sanskrit word for silver, (). Sometimes, I ...

and were taken over by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (''Badan Penyehatan perbankan Nasional'', BPPN). The assets of GIS and GDSP were later acquired by '' Bina Kreasi Primaniagatama'' at a much lower value than their capital worth. In 2004 it was alleged that the sale of the groups steel companies was corrupt and had cost the (Indonesian) state 1.2 Trillion - it was claimed that the companies that reacquired the assets were part of the Gunawan group - a transaction that violated governmental asset sale regulations. The GIS plate mill became part of the

and production was restarted in 2003. Gunawan Dianjaya Steel (GDS) was owned by the Gunawan family in 2008, and launched an IPO in 2009, raising $16.8million for 12.2% of the company.

References

{{reflist 1989 establishments in Indonesia 1998 disestablishments in Indonesia Steel companies of Indonesia Steel companies of Malaysia