Blibli shares gave up all of their initial gains of nearly 5% in the company’s Indonesian stock market debut on Tuesday, closing unchanged from their initial public offering price.
The shares traded as high as IDR 472 (USD 0.03), a gain of 4.8%, in the opening minutes of trading from the IPO price of IDR 450 (USD 0.029) but ended the session back where they started, giving the company a market capitalization of IDR 53.31 trillion (USD 3.4 billion).
Blibli raised about IDR 8 trillion (USD 515.5 million) in Indonesia’s second-largest IPO this year and the fifth biggest ever on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
Global Investama Andalan is the majority shareholder with a stake of 83.6%, according to Blibli.
“We are quite proud to be able to complete this IPO in the midst of volatile stock market conditions, rising interest rates and a less conducive technology sector,” Blibli Director Eric Alamsjah Winarta said. “[Despite all of that], we could make this achievement.”
Winarta was speaking in the afternoon at a news conference also attended by CEO Kusumo Martanto.
“We hope to increase investor confidence in the technology sector in Indonesia and bring a positive effect to the digital economy in Indonesia,” Martanto said.
The news conference was held during trading hours and reporters asked questions regarding the first-day performance but neither executive responded to them.
Blibli is the latest in a line of Southeast Asian tech companies to list in recent years. Bukalapak was Indonesia’s first unicorn, a startup valued at more than USD 1 billion, to go public, listing in August 2021. Superapp GoTo, which was formed by a merger between food delivery and ride-hailing platform Gojek and e-commerce operator Tokopedia, went public in April.
Founded in 2010, Blibli pioneered online shopping in Indonesia, offering a range of products from daily staples to furniture.
In 2021, Blibli, the e-commerce unit of cigarette conglomerate Djarum Group, recorded a loss of IDR 3.33 trillion (USD 212.6 million) on revenue of IDR 8.85 trillion (USD 570.4 million). The loss was about 38% worse than the one suffered the previous year.
“The potential of the e-commerce market is significant,” Martanto said last month, noting that the sector is expected to account for one-third of Indonesia’s economy in 2025.
But Blibli’s listing comes amid a global market downturn stemming from concerns over inflation and the Ukraine war. In recent months, many tech companies have shed significant market value.
Shares of Bukalapak have been trading well under their IPO level, closing Tuesday about 67% below.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.