Scandinavian Tobacco Plans Initial Public Offering in Copenhagen

Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S, the Danish producer of cigars and pipe tobacco partly owned by Swedish Match AB, said it plans an initial public offering on the Copenhagen exchange.

The company’s current owners intend to sell as much as 40 percent of STG’s existing shares on an equal basis, STG said in a statement on Thursday. Swedish Match owns 49 percent of STG while the Augustinus Foundation and the Obel Family Foundation own 51 percent via Skandinavisk Holding II A/S.

The shareholders of STG have been considering an IPO since February last year, when they said they engaged advisers “to assess strategic alternatives”. In the first nine months of 2015, STG’s net sales rose 10 percent to 4.97 billion kroner ($723 million) while net income gained 6.7 percent to 493 million kroner. The company produces 3 billion cigars and 5,000 tons of pipe and fine-cut tobacco annually.

“The contemplated IPO marks the culmination of the journey embarked upon in 2010 when we created a global leader with scale and a highly recognized and diversified brand portfolio within cigars, pipe tobacco and fine-cut tobacco,” STG Chairman Joergen Tandrup said in the statement.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is acting as lead global coordinator in the IPO and together with Deutsche Bank AG and Nordea Bank AB as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. STG has appointed Carnegie Investment Bank as co-lead manager while FIH Partners is acting as financial adviser.