Sweden: Oatly seeks to raise $1.43bn in IPO

  • 12 May 2021
The challenger oat-based drink company plans to sell ADS shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol OTLY

Vegan challenger brand Oatly seeks to raise $1.43 billion through its initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. The Swedish oat-based drink company is aiming for a valuation of about $10 billion and plans to offer nearly 85 million American Depositary Shares, each representing one ordinary share offered by Oatly and certain selling shareholders. The Malmo-based company said the IPO share price is currently estimated to be between $15 and $17 each.

Investment banks Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse are leading the offering for Oatly, and the company plans to list its shares on Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OTLY.

Scottish asset management company Baillie Gifford has expressed interest in purchasing as much as $500 million of the shares.

In April, Oatly said it will pursue a Hong Kong listing in the case of any “material adverse effect” on its relationship with state-owned Chinese conglomerate China Resources.

Oatly is a success story in the plant-based space – from the outset. The company has been in the market for 25 years. Founded by brothers Rickard and Bjorn Öste, the entrepreneurial duo leveraged technology from research at Sweden’s Lund University that allowed to turn fibre-rich oats into liquid food.

The company’s R&D has been steadily bringing products to market – the flagship oat milk range was joined by the chilled oat drink, on-the-go, oatgurt, and ice cream. Products are sold in the US, Europe and Asia.

Oatly’s latest fundraising was in July when the Malmo-based company raised $200 million in a round led by Blackstone. Oatly was valued at $2 billion, according to a PitchBook estimate.

The challenger brand attracted world-class celebrity investors, including Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z’s entertainment agency Roc Nation, and actress Natalie Portman.

Verlinvest, a family-owned evergreen investment group, is said to be one of Oatly’s largest shareholder.