LONDON – Norway’s government said on Wednesday that it planned an initial public offering of Entra Holding, a state-owned office real estate manager and developer with a portfolio of properties worth about $4.2 billion.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries plans to seek a listing in Oslo and said the timing of any offering would be subject to receiving approvals from the stock exchange and market conditions.
The Norwegian government announced plans to move Entra into the private sector this year as part of an effort to reduce its stake in a variety of state-owned companies. The property company, with government offices making up about 79 percent of its tenants, will be renamed Entra following the offering.
The proposed I.P.O. is expected to consist of shares held by the Norwegian government and new shares that will be used to repay Entra’s outstanding debt.
“Entra is a one of Norway’s leading and largest real estate companies, and is operating on a commercial basis in full competition with other real estate companies in a well-functioning market,” Monica Mæland, the minister of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, said in a news release. “There are no specific reasons why the state must own Entra, therefore I would like to reduce the state’s ownership.”
By reducing its holdings in some companies, the government has said that it hopes to allow those companies to better pursue mergers or other strategic changes to bolster their businesses.
The government’s holdings include the telecommunications company Telenor, the energy company Statoil and Kongsberg Gruppen, which supplies products to the shipping, oil and gas and defense sectors.
In June, the ministry said it planned to seek permission to reduce its holdings in Kongsbeg Gruppen and Telenor to about 34 percent from more than half of their shares. The ministry said both companies remained important to Norway and the government wanted to keep their headquarters in the country.
The Entra offering could be one of the largest I.P.O.s in Oslo since 2010, when the Norwegian insurer Gjensidige Forsikring and the gas station operator Statoil Fuel & Retail both listed their shares.
Entra owns and manages about 107 buildings in Norway, primarily in Oslo. As of June 30, the company’s property portfolio was valued at about 27 billion Norwegian kroner, or about $4.2 billion.
ABG Sundal Collier, Goldman Sachs and Swedbank are serving as underwriters on the offering. DNB Markets is acting as a financial adviser to the Norwegian government.