Oatly prices IPO at top of range to raise $1.4bn

The listing gives the Swedish vegan food and drink maker a market value of about $10bn

A cup of Oatly brand oatgurt. Oatly Group priced its IPO at the top of a marketed range to raise more than $1.4 billion with its investors. Photo: Getty Images

Oatly Group, the vegan food and drink maker, priced its initial public offering at the top of a marketed range to raise more than $1.4 billion with its investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The company sold its American depositary shares for $17 each on Wednesday, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn’t public yet. The Swedish company and its investors marketed more than 84 million shares for $15 to $17 each.

The listing gives Oatly a market value of about $10bn based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

A representative for Oatly didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

US markets dropped for the third day in a row, with the S&P 500 index falling 0.3 per cent on Wednesday. Oatly's IPO price was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

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, whose shares have surged more than 300 per cent since it went public in May 2019.

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.

In July, Oatly secured $200 million in new capital from investors led by Blackstone Group. The group also included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, as well as former Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. The company was valued at about $2bn in the round.

Oatly’s offering is being led by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse Group. The shares are expected to begin trading on Thursday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OTLY.