Harita Nickel Shines On Debut, Bode Well For Indonesia's Brisk IPO Market

Trimegah Bangun Persada (TBP) shares rose on Wednesday in their trading debut after the company, also known as Harita Nickel, raised 10 trillion rupiah ($672 million) in the country's largest listing this year.

Harita Nickel's debut could boost sentiment surrounding upcoming IPOs in Indonesia, which is one of the world's hottest IPO markets this year due to the government's drive to privatise some state-owned enterprises. On the Indonesian stock exchange, Harita Nickel's stock opened at 1,285 rupiah per share, slightly higher than its IPO price of 1,250 rupiah per share.

It climbed to 1,410 rupiah a share, then dropped to 1,205 rupiah before trading at around 1,290 rupiah, with the local benchmark stock index down 0.3 percent.

TBP CEO Roy Arman Arfandy stated that the retail portion of the share sale had been doubled to 5% of the total issue.

"There was a significant amount of oversubscription because demand was very high," Roy told reporters at the company's market debut ceremony on Wednesday.

The IPO comes at a time when nickel-rich Indonesia steps up efforts to become a major player in the electric vehicle industry. Harita Nickel's peer Merdeka Battery Materials is scheduled to debut on the local bourse next, on April 18, after raising 8.75 trillion rupiah.

New share sales more than quadrupled in Indonesia to $828.1 million in the first quarter from the same period last year, according to Refinitiv data.

"We are really excited about the region, because countries like Indonesia and countries like Thailand - these are places where you see real growth coming back in a very meaningful way," said Sunil Khaitan, Southeast Asia's Managing Director and Head of Equity Capital Markets at Bank of America in Singapore.

Other upcoming IPOs in Southeast Asia's largest economy this year include the planned listing of Pertamina Hulu Energi, the upstream arm of state energy company Pertamina, which could raise up to $2 billion, and Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, a state-owned fertiliser company that could raise $500 million.

After the $1.1 billion IPO of tech firm GoTo in April, Harita Nickel's IPO was the largest in Indonesia in nearly a year.

According to the IPO prospectus, the miner will use the proceeds to repay existing loans, as well as for capital expenditure and working capital.

It is part of Jakarta-headquarted Harita Group, whose main businesses range from palm oil plantations to smelters.

BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Mandiri Sekuritas are the joint global coordinators and bookrunners of the IPO with DBS, OCBC and UOBKayHian, according to its prospectus.