Norwegian Sports Retailer XXL to Seek Listing in Oslo

XXL ASA, a Norwegian sports retailer, said it will sell shares in an initial public offering on the Oslo bourse as it expands across the Nordic region.

The offering will comprise of a sale to retail and institutional investors in Norway and a private placement to certain institutional investors internationally, XXL said in a statement. Shareholders will reduce their ownership while Dolphin Management and EQT Partners AB will remain “important” shareholders after the transaction, the company said.

“We’re proud of our strong track record of growth in revenue and profits and that our retail concept has proven successful not only in Norway but also in Sweden and most recently in Finland,” Fredrik Steenbuch, XXL’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We look forward to offering new shareholders the opportunity to join us in realizing our ambition to become the biggest sports retailer in the Nordics.”

The company has raised its revenue to 4.01 billion kroner in 2013 from 2.47 billion kroner in 2011, it said in the statement. XXL was founded in Norway in 2001, expanded into Sweden in 2010 and opened its first store in Finland in April.

ABG Sundal Collier Norge ASA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are acting as joint global coordinators and joint book-runners in the IPO. Carnegie and Credit Suisse are also joint book-runners and DNB ASA (DNB) is acting as joint lead manager.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mikael Holter in Oslo at mholter2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net Stephen Treloar
   
By Mikael Holter bloomberg.com