AMMAN Mineral Internasional ended 3.5 per cent higher in its stock market debut on Friday (Jul 7), after the country’s second-largest copper and gold producer raised 10.7 trillion rupiah (S$957.5 million) in Indonesia’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year.

Amman Mineral’s stock opened at 1,745 rupiah, 2.9 per cent higher than its IPO price of 1,695 rupiah a share, on Indonesia’s stock exchange.

It dropped as low as 1,700 rupiah, then climbed as high as 1,820 rupiah before settling at 1,755 rupiah. The local benchmark stock index ended 0.6 per cent lower.

The Jakarta-based company’s IPO was the biggest since the US$1.1 billion listing of tech company GoTo in April 2022.

Amman Mineral, the country’s biggest copper and gold producer after Freeport Indonesia, plans to use the proceeds to repay debt and fund several projects, including a US$980 million copper smelter it aims to complete in May 2024.

CEO Alexander Ramlie on Friday said the company’s business prospects were solid because of rising copper demand, and the metal’s importance in the global transition to renewable energy.

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Indonesia, South-east Asia’s largest economy, is stepping up the use of such energy.

The firm debut by Amman Mineral could also bode well for upcoming listings in Indonesia, one of the world’s hottest IPO markets this year, amid a government drive to privatise some state-owned enterprises.

First-time share sales in Indonesia have raised US$2.2 billion as at June, second only to China in the Asia-Pacific region and ahead of traditional powerhouse Hong Kong, based on data from Refinitiv.

Next in the pipeline this month is a US$160 million IPO by Indonesia’s largest cinema chain operator, Nusantara Sejahtera Raya.

Other upcoming IPOs in Indonesia include the upstream arm of state energy company Pertamina, Pertamina Hulu Energi, which could raise at least 20 trillion rupiah.

State-owned fertiliser company Pupuk Kalimantan Timur and palm-oil producer PalmCo could raise US$500 million each. REUTERS