HELSINKI (Chatnewstv.com) — Finland’s national postal service, Posti Group Corporation, saw its initial public offering met with strong demand from both domestic and international investors, with the share sale being oversubscribed many times over, the government announced Thursday.
The offering attracted approximately 11,000 private investors in Finland, alongside significant interest from institutional investors in the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom.
The final price for the shares was set at €7.50 ($8.18) apiece. The Finnish state is selling a total of 13.34 million shares, which will leave it as the majority shareholder with a 65.8 percent stake in the company.
Due to the high demand from the public, the government increased the number of shares allocated to private investors to nearly 2.7 million from an initial one million. Following the sale, private investors will hold about eight percent of the company’s shares, while institutional investors will own approximately 26 percent.
“One of the objectives set in the Government Programme is to strengthen domestic ownership,” said Maija Strandberg, Director General of the Ownership Steering Department at the Prime Minister’s Office. “I am especially pleased the Finnish public was so interested in Posti’s initial public offering and that citizens were able to strengthen domestic ownership by participating.”
Officials stated the goal of the IPO was to broaden Posti’s ownership base and provide greater financial flexibility to support the company’s growth as a publicly listed entity.
Posti’s shares are scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange prelist on Friday, Oct. 10, and will make their official debut on the main list on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
