Jakarta. Merdeka Battery Materials officially went public on Tuesday with an initial public offering involving 11.5 billion new stocks at the opening value of Rp 795 per share.

The price closed 11.32 percent higher to reach Rp 885 per share, improving the company’s market capitalization to Rp 95.58 trillion and producing Rp 9.2 trillion in a fresh fund.

Listed under the abbreviation MBMA, Merdeka Battery became the 34th company to begin trading shares at the Indonesia Stock Exchange this year.

Merdeka Battery CEO Devin Ridwan said the new stock issuance was oversubscribed by 19.9 times. The positive market response prompted the company to add around 550 million new shares to the offering.

"We are thankful that the IPO by MBMA proceeded smoothly with support from various institutional investors here and abroad,” Devin said. 

The IPO is a crucial move to achieve Merdeka Battery’s ambition of becoming a global player in electric vehicle battery value chains, he added.

The proceeds generated from the IPO will be used to finance the company’s nickel processing projects which are essential in the battery industry.

Merdeka Battery also plans to use the fresh fund to strengthen capital in its subsidiary Sulawesi Cahaya Mineral, which manages a major nickel mine in Sulawesi.