THE STOCK EXCHANGE AS THE WAY TO RAISE CAPITAL IN SPECIALIZED ENERGY COMPANIES

Attracting investors to medium and small specialized companies is a significant problem. Narrow focus and small size of such companies make capital investments in them risky. Traditionally, it is believed that the shares in such businesses cannot be the subject of stock trading and can be targeted only by private investors, i.e. business partners, hedge funds, “business angels”, etc. The article discusses an interesting experience of raising capital by energy sector companies at Oslo Stock Exchange. These companies are not big‑sized and they produce a number of important specialized goods and services for major international energy companies, e.g. providing services for offshore drilling, geological exploration, field design, and transportation of non‑standard cargo in almost all regions of the world. For today, the Oslo stock exchange has attracted a significant number of issuers which are not only Norwegian, but also Canadian, American and other foreign companies. The composition, size, activities of publicly traded companies operating in energy sector are analyzed here. The historical, institutional and technological features of the Oslo Stock Exchange, which helped to attract and serve these issuers on given trading platform, are considered. It is shown that the success at the stock exchange achieved by medium and small high‑tech energy sector companies is associated with the use of various methods of placing shares. Classic public offerings targeted any investors get weak results for these companies. And placement of shares by private issues for strategic investors through the stock exchange is of the greatest importance.

energy sector companies, oil and gas service companies, mining exploration, stock exchange, shares, capitalization, equity issuance, Oslo, Norway

Balabin A. A. The stock exchange as the way to raise capital in specialized energy companies. Business. Education. Law, 2019, no. 2, pp. 76–81. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2019.47.222.