LONDON — One of the hottest IPO markets this year is not in a country brimming with global tech giants, nor does it rank among the top 10 global economies by size.
But Indonesia, a collection of islands with a big population and a fast-growing economy, sits on vast deposits of the metals needed to make batteries for electric vehicles. That has made the country an important engine of the global green transition -- and a magnet for investors, CNN reported.
The Southeast Asian country currently ranks as the world's fourth-largest market for newly listed companies when measured by the amount of capital raised, according to data from Dealogic, putting it behind leader China, the US and United Arab Emirates.
It has overtaken Hong Kong -- long one of the top IPO markets -- for the first time since 1995, and is outpacing economic powerhouses India, South Korea and Japan, CNN reported.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]"It is not normal," said Perris Lee, who focuses on Asian equity capital markets at data provider Dealogic.
This year, he told CNN, "will likely be the best for Indonesia ever".
So far this year, investors have poured $2.1 billion into Indonesian IPOs, he said. That's just shy of the $2.2 billion the country's firms raised over the whole of 2022, while at least five more major IPOs are set to come in 2023.
Part of Indonesia's IPO (initial public offering) success this year can be explained by lackluster performances elsewhere, CNN reported.
Investors have pulled back from equity markets over the past year as rising interet rates have pushed up the cost of capital.
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The US IPO market, usually the world's largest, has suffered given its reliance on particularly rate-sensitive tech companies, Lee said.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, has been held back by poor valuations and the legacy of strict Covid lockdowns, he added.