Merdeka Battery Plans Indonesia’s 2nd-Largest 2023 IPO

Fathiya Dahrul and Norman Harsono, Bloomberg News

An excavator loads top soil onto a dump truck at a nickel mine operated by PT Vale Indonesia in Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Monday, June 13, 2022. The value of Indonesia’s nickel exports surged tenfold in five years after it forced buyers to set up refineries in the country. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Nickel producer PT Merdeka Battery Materials seeks up to 9.62 trillion rupiah ($637 million) in what’s set to be Indonesia’s second-largest initial public offering this year.

The company, a unit of miner PT Merdeka Copper Gold, will issue up to 11 billion shares at 780 to 795 rupiah each, and may issue an additional 1.1 billion shares, according to the prospectus on Tuesday. Only the IPO of PT Trimegah Bangun Persada, known as Harita Nickel, is slated to be bigger at about $659 million.

Merdeka Battery is tapping into the surging global demand for electric cars by refining its nickel into battery materials. The company is developing a high-pressure acid leaching plant in Sulawesi island that will have the capacity to produce 120,000 tons a year. It plans to use the IPO proceeds to repay a $300 million loan facility earlier, with the rest going toward working capital including for the nickel facility.

Bookbuilding is set for March 28 through April 4, with a listing date set for April 18.

(Corrects day of the week in second paragraph.)