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elecommunication infrastructure firm Tower Bersama Infrastructure’s share price climbed 18.5 percent to Rp 2,400 on its trading debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Tuesday.

Security dealers said that the company’s share price reached its high of Rp 2,575 at midday trading before closing at Rp 2,400, with 328.48 million shares changing hands at the total transaction value of Rp 795.76 billion.

The company’s chief financial officer Helmi Yusman Santoso said the company’s stock trading debut received a positive response from investors. He said that investors responded positively as they saw good prospects in the company, which had pledged to allocate US$250 million in capital expenditure next year to fund expansion, including the acquisition of towers and firms.

“About $125 million of this will be from our IPO proceeds and the remaining $125 million from debt refinancing,” chief financial officer Helmi Yusman Santoso told reporters at a press briefing at the IDX in Jakarta.

Helmi added that Tower had also secured $2 billion (about Rp 18 trillion) in standby loans from seven overseas banks, $230 million of which will be used to refinance debts and the remaining $120 million to fund more acquisitions in the near future.

The seven banks include Singapore’s DBS Bank, United Overseas Bank (UOB), OCBC Bank and Standard Bank, as well as Japan’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, France’s Credit Agricole and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Bank, he added. “We have secured the banks’ commitment and will use the funds to finance acquisitions when needed,” president director Herman Setya Budi told The Jakarta Post after Tower Bersama’s initial listing at the IDX in Jakarta.

Helmi added that Tower Bersama normally acquired one or two firms and hundreds of towers in a year to continually expand its business.

Tower Bersama currently operates more than 2,600 towers with almost 4,500 tenants (users) and sees 2,700 towers and 4,800 tenants by the end of the year.

Tower Bersama sold 551.11 million new shares to the public last week at Rp 2,025 per share. The company raised about Rp 1.11 trillion from the IPO. The telecommunication firm also raised an additional Rp 860 billion from an over-allotment option (greenshoe) of 82.67 million shares and private placement of 339.75 million shares. (est)