Danish Energy Firm in Highest Floatation of the Year

Danish wind farm specialists Dong Energy completed a 10 billion pound IPO last week and began trading on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange today. The floatation is thought to be the largest that will happen in 2016.

New York, NY, USA, July 15, 2016 -- Shares were selling higher than predicted, closing at DKK240 (£25.80) a share. The sale ended three days early as strong interest in the state-run energy firm spurred sales.

Nearly 40,000 new investors have been brought on as the Danish government; together with a consortium headed by Goldman Sachs sold an 18 percent stake in the business. Most of the new investors are private Danish interests with a small number of retail entities also buying in.

“We are delighted by the investor interest,” said Claus Hjort Frederiksen, Danish finance minister.

“I’m certain this will enable Dong Energy to push on as the sectors leading producer of green energy,” he added.

The floatation’s main aim was to raise capital for a monumental offshore wind farm project 80 miles off the UK coastline, near Grimsby. Insiders say the facility will include nearly 180 skyscraper sized giant turbines and will cover an area a sixth the size of Yorkshire.

Dong is also a very active player in the oil and gas industry around the North Sea with shares in the West of Shetland gas basin as well as multiple other locations and they will be hoping to invest additional funds to expand that side of the business in the near future.

Stuart Poulson, Head of Corporate trading at Nikko-Desjardins Asset Management remarked on the IPO in an email to clients on Thursday, “Judging from the quick sale of shares and their better-than-expected price Dong Energy must be very happy. This will allow them to drive forward with their upcoming plans with renewed confidence.”

Meanwhile the listed oil firm BowLeven, a relatively low output producer, sold off a small portion of the company to private equity firm Crown Ocean Capital. 

BowLeven are mainly focused on the African region and lack of new discoveries and declining oil prices have prompted the search for investment. Nearly 7 percent was sold off at 20.80p per share.

Contact: 

Arin Takashi

Nikko-Desjardins Asset Management

Tokyo, Japan

+81-345781539

itadmin@nikkoholdings.com

http://www.nikkoholdings.com