Scandinavian Tobacco Group to go public

IPO on the way from Danish tobacco giant

The Scandinavian Tobacco Group, one of the world’s leading producers of cigars and traditional pipe tobacco, will soon be listed on Københavns Fondsbørs, the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

According to its chairman Jørgen Tandrup, the group has been planning an IPO for a while.

“The planned IPO is the culmination of the journey we started in 2010, when we created a large global market leader with a highly recognised and diversified portfolio of cigars, pipe tobacco and fine-cut tobacco,” said Tandrup.

“Since then, management has begun implementing a number of initiatives, laying out a new strategy for our brand portfolio, improving production processes and adapting production capacity.”

A growth move
Prior to the IPO,  Scandinavian Tobacco Group is still owned by two Danish funds – the Augustinus Fund and the Obel Family Fund – which control 51 percent while Swedish Match Cigars Holding controls 49 percent of the group.

READ MORE: Niels Frederiksen the new CEO of Scandinavian Tobacco Group

Group head Niels Frederiksen said that going public will help to ensure the company’s growth.

“We have managed to maintain and expand our market leadership in cigars, pipe tobacco and fine-cut tobacco, and we have a clearly defined strategic agenda to continue to improve our profitability,” he said.

Changes on the board
Changes will be made to the tobacco group’s board in connection with the planned IPO.

Søren Bjerre-Nielsen, Dianne Neal Blixt and Luc Missorten will join the board, and Anders Obel, Lars Dahlgren and Fredrik Lagercrantz will step down.