Sampoerna

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Sampoerna (PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk) is an Indonesian tobacco company whose cigarette brands are smoked by millions of Indonesians. It is reportedly the largest Indonesian tobacco company, ahead of Gudang Garam and Djarum. In May, 2005, subsidiaries of Altria Group completed the acquisition of 98% of the company. A bloc of approximately 40% of the outstanding stock was sold by the controlling Sampoerna family, especially by Putra Sampoerna, and other insiders in a negotiated transaction and the remaining shares were purchased in a tender offer. The series of transactions valued the company at approximately $5.2 billion. The investment in Sampoerna represented a strategic move for Altria, as although Marlboro is by far the most popular Western-style (non kretek cigarette), most Indonesians still smoke kretek cigarettes.

Sampoerna reported 2005 Net Sales of 24.66 trillion Rupiah (approximately $2.6bn using the June 6, 2006 exchange rate) resulting in 1.99 trillion Rupiah Net Income.

It produces kretek-type cigarettes, flavoured with cloves and spices. Its most popular brand is Sampoerna 'A' Mild, a filter cigarette in white paper. The filter has a sweet coating of sugar and spices. Although the cigarette is described as mild, it contains similar tar and nicotine levels to Marlboro Red. Along with variations on the Sampoerna Brand (filterless (known as Hijau, or green), menthol, etc.), the company's other key brand is "234" (pronounced Dji Sam Soe), an unfiltered cigarette with 39mg of tar and 2.3 mg of nicotine per stick. Dji Sam Soe is the most premium cigarette in Indonesia. Its retail price per pack is the same with Marlboro Red (20 sticks), whilst 234 is packed 16 sticks. [1].

The company is named after the founding Sampoerna family, and was founded in 1913.

In 2001, Putera Sampoerna also founded Sampoerna Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improve the access to, and quality of education in Indonesia. After the Phillip Morris acquisition, the Foundation became an independent entity run by a team of professionals, while the Sampoerna family members remain to be the Foundation's Board of Patrons and Supervisors.

Aside from scholarship provision, Sampoerna Foundation also established several education quality improvement programs such as Sampoerna Foundation United Schools Program (SF USP), Sampoerna Foundation Teacher Institute, Sampoerna School of Business and Management-Institut Teknologi Bandung (Sampoerna SBM-ITB) and Sampoerna Language Centre.