Oatly, the Sweden-based oat milk producer backed by talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation, has floated on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in a $1.43bn initial public offering.
The company issued almost 84.4 million shares priced at $17 each, at the top of the IPO’s $15 to $17 range, and its shares are trading at $22.46 at time of publication.
Founded in 1994 to advance research at Lund University, Oatly provides oat milk and other oat-derived food products traditionally made from cow’s milk, including ice cream, coffee, yoghurt, cream, spread and custard.
The company most recently raised $200m in a July 2020 round led by investment management firm Blackstone that included Roc Nation and Rabo Corporate Investments, a corporate venturing vehicle for agriculture-focused banking group Rabobank.
Oatly co-founders Rickard and Björn Öste, growth equity firm Orkila Capital and various individuals filled out the round, which followed $41m from unnamed investors in late 2019 and an undisclosed amount from conglomerate China Resources, Verlinvest and Strand Equity in 2017. Oyster Bay Venture Capital is also among its investors.
The company’s largest shareholder is Nativus, a joint venture of China Resources and Verlinvest, which sold $264m of shares in the offering to take a 47.5% stake post-IPO. Blackstone’s BXG Redhawk vehicle now owns 6.7% and the two co-founders’ Öste Ventures fund retains 4.4%.
The underwriters for the IPO include Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Securities, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Barclays Capital, Jefferies, BNP Paribas Securities, BofA Securities, Piper Sandler, RBC Capital Markets, Rabo Securities USA, William Blair, Guggenheim Securities and Truist Securities.
China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities, Nordea Bank, filial i Sverige, Oppenheimer, SEB Securities, Blaylock Van, CL King & Associates, Loop Capital Markets, Samuel A Ramirez, Siebert Williams Shank and Tribal Capital Markets filled out the underwriter list.
The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 12.6 million additional shares, which could push the offering up to nearly $1.65bn.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
