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hares of Intermedia Capital (IMC), which runs free-to-air ANTV, booked less than 10 percent during the company'€™s debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) Friday, despite its business expansion plan.

The shares, traded under the code MDIA, closed at Rp 1,510 (13 US cents), an increase of 9.42 percent from its initial public offering (IPO) price , after rising to Rp 1,600 during midday trading.

The gain experienced by ANTV during its first day in the market is relatively small compared to those made by other debutants, which mostly reached more than 20 percent.

IMC, which is a part of politically wired tycoon Aburizal Bakrie'€™s media empire, PT Visi Media Asia (VIVA), sold 588.2 million new shares or 15 percent of its enlarged capital to the public during the IPO early in April.

IMC sold 99 percent of its shares offered in the IPO to venture capital, mutual funds, private equity, pension funds and insurance companies '€” while the rest was sold to retail investors.

President director Erick Thohir said the company raised Rp 541.17 billion from the IPO, which was underwritten jointly by Sinarmas Sekuritas and Kresna Graha Sekurindo securities companies.

'€œThe funds will be used to finance expansion and to cover our debts,'€ Erick said.

As previously reported, 80 percent of the funds raised from the IPO would be used for the company'€™s capital expenditure (capex), 10 percent would be used to pay off its debts to the holding company, while the remainder would be used for its working capital.

Out of the capex funds, 30 percent would be allocated to purchase land in East Jakarta or Bekasi, 25 percent would be used to establish new studios, 15 percent would be used to build a multiplexing network to support the government'€™s digital television programming, while the rest would be used to procure broadcasting equipment.

'€œWe are optimistic that our performance will be better this year as we will focus on in-house production to cut costs,'€ Erick said, adding that the company expected its revenues to grow by 16 percent this year.

IMC saw its profits nearly triple to Rp 118.9 billion in 2013 from Rp 43.5 billion in 2012. Its revenues grew by about 36.8 percent to Rp 835.5 billion during the same period. The company attributed its financial performance growth to a rise in advertising income from the country'€™s 10 major television channels, which is estimated to hit Rp 65.9 trillion, up 25.8 percent year-on-year.

Asjaya Indosurya analyst William Surya Wijaya said that the IMC share price increase was mostly driven by the stock market'€™s uptrend, rather than the company'€™s own performance.

'€œIt'€™s only normal that IMC, as a new company listing its stocks on the IDX during positive market trend, saw its prices rise during its debut. The next question is whether it can maintain the stock'€™s performance,'€ William said.