Oatly files supported by Oprah for IPO

Oatly Group AB formally submitted paperwork on Monday for an initial public offering in the US, nine months after the private equity giant Blackstone Group Inc.

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and a handful of sensational celebrities took a stake in the oatmeal producer.

The Malmö company in Sweden entered the US market in 2017 with its alternative dairy products increasing in popularity among consumers seeking healthier options with less impact on the environment.

Last July, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company had sold a $ 200 million stake to a group led by Blackstone, including Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Portman, the former head of Starbucks Corp. Howard Schultz and the entertainment business founded by Jay-Z. The sale of the 10% stake valued Oatly at about $ 2 billion. In February, the oatmeal manufacturer confidentially submitted a stock exchange in the US

The retail value of the plant-based dairy industry in the Americas, according to Euromonitor, is expected to reach $ 20 billion by 2025 by 2025.

The growing appetite for vegetable alternatives has put pressure on dairy companies like Dean Foods Co.

, who filed for bankruptcy in 2019. Meanwhile, companies that have focused on plant-based alternatives have increased the demand from consumers as well as investors in recent years. For example, shares of vegetable food manufacturer Beyond Meat Inc.

has increased by 441% since it became known in 2019.

As part of the filing Monday, the company said it had revenue of $ 421.4 million in 2020, compared to $ 204 million in 2019. However, its losses for the year increased to $ 60.4 million, compared to $ 35 , 6 million a year earlier.

Oatly plans to raise $ 100 million from the sale of its U.S. depository shares, which often use a placeholder figure to calculate filing costs, and this is often changed. According to registration documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, it has not been disclosed how much ADS he wants to offer to the public.

The company plans to list its ads on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol OTLY.

The company, which was founded in 1994, launched its first oat milk product under the Oatly brand in 2001. Oatly says the process of producing oat milk, which involves disturbing oats in water, consumes less water than producing almond milk. In addition to oatmeal, the company also makes products such as ice cream, yogurt and spreads.

Oatly plans to use the proceeds from the offering for working capital and to invest in growth and other general corporate purposes.

Write to Kimberly Chin by [email protected]

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In the print edition of April 20, 2021, it appears as ‘Celebrity-Backed Oatly Files His Paperwork for an IPO’. ‘

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