Merdeka Gold Resources (EMAS), a subsidiary of the Indonesian mining company Merdeka Copper Gold, has secured commitments from a group of strategic and financial investors ahead of its planned secondary listing in Hong Kong, according to its filing with the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday (June 17).
The company said it has completed the registration of its final prospectus with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), marking another milestone in its plan to list through Hong Kong Depositary Receipts (HDRs).
The gold miner will conduct bookbuilding with international institutional investors between June 17 and June 23.
According to its Hong Kong prospectus, the company is offering 89.7 million HDRs at a maximum price of HK$26.6 apiece, implying a deal size of up to HK$2.4 billion ($306.3 million) before any exercise of the overallotment option. All shares offered in the transaction are secondary shares sold by existing minority shareholders.
The offering is backed by a slate of cornerstone investors from the mining, commodities and financial services sectors that have agreed to subscribe to 49.9% of the shares available in the base offering, the maximum allocation permitted under HKEX listing rules.
Strategic investors participating in the offering include Wanguo Gold Group, CNGR (Hong Kong Material Science & Technology), Mercuria Holdings (Singapore), Trafigura, Glencore International, and Intera Mining Investment, a wholly owned subsidiary of JCHX Mining Management.
Financial investors comprise Ping An of China Asset Management (Hong Kong), GF (Guangfa) Fund Management, Eurus Holdings, affiliated with Japan’s ORIX Group, Dymon Asia Multi-Strategy Investment Master Fund, and Wind Sabre Fund.
The global offering represents approximately 7% of EMAS’s enlarged share capital after the exercise of the greenshoe option.
Merdeka Copper Gold, the controlling shareholder of EMAS, will not participate in the share sale and will retain its entire strategic stake in the company.
The company had earlier disclosed that it completed the registration of its final prospectus with HKEX on June 16, following the submission of an application proof in March as part of the listing process.
As outlined in the prospectus, the HDR offering does not constitute a public offering under Indonesian capital market regulations and will not be offered or sold to Indonesian citizens or entities.
The transaction is structured as a secondary listing involving shares held by existing minority shareholders rather than the issuance of new shares. The arrangement has been classified as an affiliated-party transaction under Indonesian regulations because several participating shareholders are affiliated with the company, although EMAS said it does not constitute a conflict-of-interest transaction.
President Director Boyke P. Abidin said the strong interest from global investors reflects confidence in the company’s flagship gold asset and long-term growth prospects.
“The support from global investors in this transaction reflects confidence in the quality of the Pani Gold Project, EMAS’s execution capabilities, and our long-term growth prospects,” Boyke said in a statement.
The listing comes as EMAS advances development of the Pani Gold Project in Gorontalo, which the company describes as one of Asia’s significant primary gold deposits.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, the project contained mineral resources of 7 million ounces of gold and ore reserves of 5.2 million ounces. The company noted that the current resource estimate is derived from a relatively small area of about 135 hectares surrounding the main Pani pit, compared with its total concession area of 14,670 hectares.
Recent drilling at the Kolokoa Prospect, located around one kilometre from the main pit, added an estimated 445,000 ounces of gold to the project’s mineral resources after six months of exploration work, lifting total estimated resources to 7.4 million ounces.
EMAS expects the mine’s processing capacity to gradually increase to 22 million tonnes per year by 2028 under a phased expansion strategy. At peak production, the company targets annual gold output of approximately 545,000 ounces.
UBS and CITIC Securities are acting as joint sponsors for the transaction, while Morgan Stanley, HSBC, China International Capital Corporation (CICC), and Macquarie are serving as joint overall coordinators, joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.
Other international financial institutions participating as joint bookrunners and lead managers include DBS, Mizuho, OCBC, UOB Kay Hian, Société Générale, Natixis, and Crédit Agricole.
