Eldar Sætre, chief financial officer, rang the bell to open the market.
Photo: Gisle Nomme
StatoilHydro ranks as the largest company in the Scandinavia region with the highest stock market valuation, at NOK 590 billion or well over USD 100 billion.
The group has almost 100,000 shareholders in addition to 40,000 owners of
American depositary receipts (ADRs) listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Prior to the merger, Statoil and Hydro were the two biggest companies on Oslo
Børs. So StatoilHydro naturally takes over as the largest company listed on the
exchange.
The Norwegian state owns 62.5% of the shares in StatoilHydro ASA at 1 October, with private institutions and individuals holding the remaining 37.5%.
This means that more than NOK 220 billion has been invested in the group by
private owners. The bulk of this capital comes from investors outside Norway.
“Managing the group in a way which creates the highest possible value for
shareholders is the management’s most important job,” says Mr Sætre.
“The fact that we’re listed on the stock exchange also subjects us to
requirements about the way this value is created and communicated.
“Hydro has long experience of being listed. Since its listing in 2001, Statoil
has also been subject to rules and principles for good corporate governance of
public limited companies.”
StatoilHydro will continue to build on the best experience from both
predecessor companies where corporate governance is concerned, he emphasises.
All its roughly 140,000 shareholders are entitled to equal treatment as well as
timely and correct information which enables them to value the group at any
given time.
“Many Norwegian and international investors have invested substantial sums in our group, and thereby shown great confidence in us,” Mr Sætre notes. “We’ll be conscious of this trust, and show ourselves worthy of it.
“Statoil and Hydro were able to achieve results competitive with those of the
major international oil and gas companies. As a result, we now have a very good starting point for future value creation which can also bear comparison with the best worldwide.”