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Ecopetrol Raises $2.8 Billion in IPO
HOUSTON
Petroleumworld.com, Jan 08, 2008
Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol raised roughly $2.8 billion in its first-ever sale of company shares, designed to help finance its investment program and improve its corporate structure.
Hailed by analysts as a successful initial public offering, Ecopetrol sold 10.1 percent of its shares to Colombian citizens, pension funds, and some local corporations. Shares started trading on the Colombian stock exchange in late November, and rose more than 20 percent in the first two days. Ecopetrol has decided to delay additional share sales until the need for more capital arises; it is authorized to sell up to 20 percent. It aims to eventually make shares available to international investors.In addition to funding part of Ecopetrol’s $12.5 billion, five-year investment plan, the I.P.O. will change the company’s corporate structure. The I.P.O. frees the company somewhat from state influence by opening it up to shareholder oversight and allowing it to issue debt without government approval. This should protect the company from the whims of new administrations and allow it to operate more like a corporation and less like a state bureaucracy.
Story from Energy Tribune
Energy Tribune 07 01 08Copyright© 2007 Petroleumworld. All rights reserved.
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