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lantation company PT Provident Agro, a subsidiary of PT Saratoga Sentra Bisnis, plans to raise funds from the public through an initial public offering (IPO) .

Provident Agro said it would launch its IPO next month to sell about 1.42 billion shares or about 25 percent of its enlarged capital to the public. The company has appointed PT Indo Premier Securities and PT DBS Vickers Securities Indonesia as underwriters for the IPO.

Currently, Provident Agro is equally owned by Saratoga Sentra Bisnis, which is related to private equity firm Saratoga Capital, and PT Provident Capital Indonesia. After the offering, the ownership of Saratoga Sentra Bisnis and Provident Capital will be diluted to 37.5 percent each.

The company plans to offer the shares on Oct. 1 and 2 and is scheduled to list them on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Oct. 8.

“Eighty-five percent of the funds to be raised from the IPO will be used to support its subsidiaries’ capital expenditures related to land acquisition, plantations and treatment of existing plants, infrastructure development and the establishment of palm oil factories. The remaining 15 percent will be used to support working capital,” the company said.

Provident Agro now has 11 oil palm plantations covering 61,483 hectares in Sumatra and Kalimantan and three palm oil factories in West Sumatra, Riau and West Kalimantan with a combined capacity of processing 105 tons of fresh fruit bunches per hour.

Meanwhile, property developer PT Nirvana Development made a successful debut on the IDX on Thursday, when its shares closed at Rp 178 apiece, 69 percent higher than its IPO price.

Shares in Nirvana, which are traded under the code NIRO, opened at Rp 150 apiece, 42 percent higher compared to the IPO price of Rp 105. The shares quickly rose to their highest point of the day at
Rp 178 and held gains until the close of trade.

The developer sold 6 billion new shares, equal to 33 percent of its enlarged capital, in an IPO held last week that raised Rp 630 billion (US$65.8 million).

The company will use 49 percent of the funds raised, or Rp 300 billion, to pay debts owed to Delphi Property Investments. The remaining funds will be used to inject capital in its subsidiaries, which will use the money to work on their projects.