KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. Indonesian nickel company PT Trimegah Bangun Persada (TBP), part of conglomerate Harita Group, aims to increase its processing capacity using some of the proceeds from a planned initial public offering in April, its top executive said on Friday.

On Wednesday TBP, also known as Harita Nickel, announced it wanted to raise $650 million in the IPO, though it had obtained regulator's approval to sell up to 15.12 trillion rupiah ($985.66 million) worth of shares.

The company in its partnership with China's Lygend Resources currently operates a high pressure acid leach (HPAL) plant in Indonesia's eastern Obi island, with an output capacity of 96,000 tonnes of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), 160,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate and 20,000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate, according to its website.

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It has subsidiaries that operate ferronickel smelters with a combined total capacity of more than 1 million tonnes per year.

TBP's planned investment will add 12 more lines to produce ferronickel and three more lines for MHP, chief executive Roy Arman Arfandy told a news conference.

"(TBP) is strategically positioned to benefit from the growing need for batteries in the electric vehicle industry, in response to energy transition initiatives. This will increase demand for both nickel ore and MHP," Roy said.

The company also has a long term plan to build a stainless steel factory in 2025, he said.

Seeking to appeal to environmental conscious investors, TBP plans to invest in a 350 megawatt solar power plant in the next three years, its executives said, adding its facilities do not dump tailings into the sea.

TBP recorded a 4.3 trillion rupiah profit in January to November 2022, three times its profit in the same period a year earlier, according to company statement.

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Indonesia has banned exports of nickel ore since 2020, which has spurred investment in processing facilities of the metal.

Merdeka Battery Materials, another Indonesian nickel miner and smelter owner, is also considering a domestic listing to raise between $500 million to $1 billion, according to an IFR report. ($1 = 15,340.0000 rupiah) 

Editor: Yudho Winarto