OW Bunker Surges on IPO

March 28 (Bloomberg) — OW Bunker A/S shares surged as much as 19 percent on its first day of trading in Copenhagen after the marine fuel provider was listed in Denmark’s second-largest initial public offering since 2010.

The shares rose 15 percent to 167 kroner at 9:46 a.m. after the Noerresundby, Denmark-based company earlier sold shares at 145 kroner apiece. The price was at the high end of the indicative range of 120 kroner to 150 kroner set last week, valuing the company at 5.33 billion kroner ($980 million).

Altor Equity Partners AB, a Stockholm-based private equity company, sold 17.9 million shares and OW Bunker is issuing 759,000 new shares giving a free float of 52 percent, or 60 percent if an over-allotment option is exercised. It’s the Nordic country’s second-biggest IPO this year after ISS A/S went public last month in a 21.9 billion-krone listing.

“Demand for the OWB share has been great with oversubscribing throughout the whole offering,” Alm. Brand Markets, which recommends clients to buy the stock, said in a note to investors. “This bodes well for short-term share price gains.”

Private-equity firms have returned to the European IPO market as the region emerged from its economic slump. IPOs in the region have raised more than $14 billion this year, up fourfold from the same period in 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

OW Bunker competes with World Fuel Service Corp. and Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. and sells about 7 percent of the fuel used by the world’s fleet. Its sales rose 20 percent to $17 billion in 2013, making it Denmark’s largest listed company based on revenue after A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S. It reported net income of $63.4 million compared with $42.7 million in 2012.

After ISS, OW Bunker’s IPO will be the biggest since the 2010 listings of Chr. Hansen A/S and Pandora A/S.

The sale was arranged by Carnegie Investment Bank, Morgan Stanley, Nordea Bank AB and ABG Sundal Collier Norge ASA.