Sweden’s Oatly, a vegan-food and drink producer backed by Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, is contemplating an initial public offering, hoping to value the company at $10 billion, a media report says.
A deal could transpire as soon as May, knowledgeable sources told Bloomberg.
It would be a U.S. listing, though Oatly was previously looking at Hong Kong, too.
The company last year had a $200 million investment round that included Blackstone Group (BX) – Get Report in addition to Oprah and Jay-Z, Bloomberg reports.
Oatly was founded in the 1990s by brothers Rickard and Bjorn Oste.
“Oatly oat milk is a vegan, plant-based milk alternative made from gluten-free oats,” the company says on its website. “It’s pretty simple really. Our oat base is just oats and water. But it’s what we do with those oats and that water that makes Oatly so special.”
Further, “for our U.S. products, we source high-quality, gluten-free oats from farms across the U.S. and Canada that are committed to the highest values of sustainability and renewable farming,” Oatly said.
“Right now, we make and package our products in New Jersey, Minnesota and Connecticut in the U.S., and in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia in Canada. We’re in the process of working on some new facilities as well.”
One of the biggest publicly traded natural-food companies is Hain Celestial (HAIN) – Get Report.
It “has struggled with intense competitive pressures and its own executional missteps,” Morningstar analyst Rebecca Scheuneman wrote last month.
But “we think Hain’s strategy to turnaround the business is starting to bear fruit,” she said.
Scheuneman pegs fair value for Hain at $31. The shares were trading at last check down 0.8% at $41.10.
