Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil Asa (STO) Wednesday said it plans to evaluate a new ownership structure for its energy and retail business, with stock-exchange listing the most likely solution. In the initial public offering, which may take place in the fourth quarter, Statoil would be a significant owner at the introduction.
The Stavanger, Norway-based company noted that the energy and retail business has been developing in different geographical directions with more than 2300 stations in eight countries and supply of lubricants, aviation and marine fuels.
Statoil said the Norway-based new company would represent an investment opportunity within the Norwegian and Nordic retail and consumer goods sector which is currently not represented on the Oslo Stock Exchange to any great extent.
Chief Executive officer Helge Lund said, "The energy and retail business has developed significantly in recent years, and is today strongly positioned in its markets. In the future, we believe that this unit's growth and further development will be best achieved as an independent company with direct access to the capital markets."
Statoil said it would establish an owner- and capital structure for the new company, and its future ownership in the company would be decided according to the new company's development needs.
E&R serves more than one million customers daily and currently operates with a number of brands. Statoil expects that it can maintain the existing market-based supply agreements in a new structure, and businesses would not be affected by a new ownership structure in E&R.
Less than 10% of E&R's some 12,000 employees work in Norway. Almost 80% of the E&R employees are employed at Statoil-operated service stations. In Norway about half of the approximately 1000 employees work at Statoil-operated service stations, whereas the rest are employed within management and administrative functions.
In Tuesday's regular trading session, STO closed trading at $23.55 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past 52-week period, shares had been trading in a range of $14.79 to $26.68.
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