Indonesia nickel giant lists at top of range raising $672 million

The shares rose 4.4% to 1,305 rupiah on Wednesday. The company, also known as Harita Nickel, offered about 8 billion shares at 1,250 rupiah apiece. They were sold at the top of a marketed range that started at 1,220 rupiah.

The listing attracted attention from domestic and foreign investors seeking to profit from the EV supply chain, which isn’t largely represented in Jakarta’s stock exchange. Harita Nickel is the first company in Southeast Asia’s largest economy to process low-grade nickel ore into battery grade metal, using a method known as high-pressure acid leaching, or HPAL.

The offering priced at the top of the range further boosted sentiment toward the EV sector amid President Joko Widodo’s plan to build an end-to-end EV supply chain onshore. The nation has been seeking to lure investments in the industry to help it capitalize on its nickel reserves, which are the world’s biggest.

Harita Nickel’s performance also provides investors cues ahead of the debut by nickel mining and processing firm PT Merdeka Battery Materials on April 18, following its 8.75 trillion rupiah IPO.

“Harita has successfully commissioned its HPAL project as it did not face similar delays that other operators in the region struggled with in terms of tailings management methods,” said Allan Ray Restauro, an analyst at BloombergNEF. “It has also been performing well in terms of its operational milestones, choosing to manage its ramp up by focusing on battery-grade nickel intermediates first.”

While the firm hadn’t released any official data on the IPO demand, “the bookbuild had reportedly been oversubscribed,” and included regional sovereign wealth funds and and international investors, said Clarence Chu, an analyst at Aequitas Research who publishes on Smartkarma, before the firm’s first day of trade.

Prior to Harita Nickel, 11 companies debuted in Jakarta after raising at least $500 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Within that group, three dropped on the first day of trade, two ended unchanged and six finished above the listing price. The average increase for the first session was 8.1%, the data show.

Credit Suisse Group AG, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc. and PT Mandiri Sekuritas are joint global coordinators for Harita Nickel’s share sale.