Oatly Group, the vegan food and drink maker, jumped in its debut after pricing its initial public offering at the top of a marketed range.
Shares opened at $22.12 (€18.10) in New York, a 30pc jump from their $17 IPO price. The company and its investors sold more than 84 million American depositary shares on Wednesday, raising more than $1.4bn. The Swedish company had offered the shares for $15 to $17 each.
At $22.12, Oatly has a market value of about $13.1bn, based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In July, it secured $200m in new capital from investors led by Blackstone Group Inc. The group also included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, as well as former Starbucks Corp. founder Howard Schultz. The company was valued at about $2bn in that round.
The IPO underscores plant-based products’ jump into the mainstream, as environmental and health concerns spur consumers to seek alternatives to traditional meat and dairy products. Investors have been looking for ways to replicate the public-market success of Beyond Meat Inc., whose shares have surged more than 300pc since it went public in May 2019.
Oatly’s biggest obstacle might be its own popularity. Since its entrance into the US market in 2017, finding Oatly in coffee shops and supermarkets has become something of a treasure hunt for shoppers.
The company opened a $15m Millville, New Jersey, plant in 2019 to help meet the growing demand, but even now, shortages are frequent, as Covid-related delays have kept a planned second US production from coming online.
In March, supermarkets across the US – and even its big new customer Starbucks – reported trouble procuring orders.
While the current shortage won’t end overnight, chief executive officer Toni Petersson sounded an optimistic note.
“This year, we will bring on board new capacity every single quarter,” he said in an interview ahead of the first trade.
The company is expanding its Netherlands plant, putting out commercial products from its Utah plant, and is doing test runs in Singapore, where the factory will be “up and running” in the second quarter, he said.
For now, Oatly is only filling 70pc of orders in its key markets, so it is “not really” taking on new customers, Mr Petersson said, adding that the gap is between supply and orders, not supply and demand.
“First we will close the gaps, then expand with new retail partners,” he added.
Oatly was started in 1994 by brothers Rickard and Bjorn Oste. Using technology based on research from Sweden’s Lund University, the company turns fibre-rich oats into liquid food.
Oatly’s offering was led by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG.
The shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OTLY.
Bloomberg