HOUSTON, May 14 -- The Norwegian government has set June 18 for the launch of its partial initial public offering for listing Statoil AS, the state-owned oil company, on the Oslo and New York stock exchanges.
Some analysts have calculated Statoil's market value at up to $22 billion. Financial advisors are promoting premarketing of shares in Statoil. Those advisors are UBS Warburg AG, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., and Norwegian brokerage house DnB Markets AS.
Last month, the Norwegian parliament voted to sell up to 33% of Statoil through a stock offering (OGJ Online, Apr. 26, 2001). The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum has sold 15% of the state's direct financial interest in offshore oil and gas exploration licenses to Statoil for 38.6 billion kroner ($4.2 billion) in advance of the IPO (OGJ Online, May 4, 2001).
The Norwegian government aims to float between 15-25% of Statoil through the IPO, a percentage that could rise to 33% via partnership agreements. The state will retain the remaining two-thirds stake in the company.
