NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION INTO OR IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN OR AUSTRALIA. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SUBSCRIBE OR PURCHASE ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.
Oslo, 18 June 2019. Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement on 17 June 2019 by OKEA ASA (“OKEA” or the “Company”) regarding the successful completion of its initial public offering (the “IPO”).
Pareto Securities AS (the “Stabilisation Manager”) may, on behalf of the Managers (as defined below), engage in stabilisation activities from today, 18 June 2019, to and including 17 July 2019 (the “Stabilisation Period”). Any stabilisation transactions will be aimed to support the market price of the shares of OKEA.
The Stabilisation Manager (or persons acting on behalf of the Stabilisation Manager) may effect transactions to stabilise or maintain the price of the shares of OKEA at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail, by buying shares in OKEA or associated instruments in the open market at prices equal to or lower than (but not above) NOK 21 per share. However, there is no obligation on the Stabilisation Manager (or persons acting on behalf of the Stabilisation Manager) to do so. Moreover, there is no assurance that the Stabilisation Manager (or persons acting on behalf of the Stabilisation Manager) will undertake stabilisation activities. If stabilisation activities are undertaken, they may be discontinued at any time, and must be brought to an end upon or before the expiry of the Stabilisation Period.
Within one week after the end of the Stabilisation Period, the Stabilisation Manager will publish a statement through the information system of Oslo Børs under the Company’s ticker (OKEA) with information as to whether or not any stabilisation activities have been undertaken, including the total amount of shares sold and purchased, the date at which stabilisation begun, the date at which stabilisation last occurred, the price range in which stabilisation was carried out for each of the dates stabilisation transactions were carried out.
Any stabilisation activities will be conducted in accordance with section 3-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2273/2003 implementing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding buy-back programs and stabilisation of financial instruments.
In order to facilitate for potential price stabilisation activities, Okea Holdings Ltd. and BCPR Pte. Ltd. have granted the Stabilisation Manager, on behalf of the Managers, an option to purchase an aggregate of up to 2,250,000 existing shares at the end of the stabilisation period. For further details on the IPO, see the stock exchange announcement of 17 June 2019 issued by OKEA.
Pareto Securities AS, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ.), Oslo Branch and SpareBank 1 Markets AS are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners in the IPO (collectively, the “Managers”). Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS is acting as legal advisor to OKEA, and Arntzen de Besche Advokatfirma AS is acting as legal advisor to the Managers.
Important Notice
The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy, fairness or completeness. None of the Managers or any of their respective affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisors or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for, or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this announcement (or whether any information has been omitted from the announcement) or any other information relating to the Company, its subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available, or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this announcement or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith.
Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein is for publication, distribution or release, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada, Japan or any other jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction. The publication, distribution or release of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession any document or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
This announcement does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for any securities referred to in this announcement to any person in any jurisdiction, including the United States, Australia, Canada or Japan or any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company does not intend to register any securities referred to herein in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.
Any offering of the securities referred to in this announcement will be made by means of a prospectus. This announcement is not a prospectus for the purposes of Directive 2003/71/EC (together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State, the “Prospectus Directive”). Investors should not subscribe for any securities referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information contained in the aforementioned prospectus. Copies of any such prospectus will, following publication, be available from the Company’s registered office and the Managers, and, subject to certain exceptions, on the websites of the Company and the Managers.
In any EEA Member State other than Norway that has implemented the Prospectus Directive, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Directive, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State.
This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.
The Managers and their affiliates are acting exclusively for the Company in connection with the Offering. They will not regard any other person as their respective clients in relation to the Offering and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the Offering, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.
In connection with the Offering, Managers and any of their affiliates, acting as investors for their own accounts, may subscribe for or purchase shares and in that capacity may retain, purchase, sell, offer to sell or otherwise deal for their own accounts in such shares and other securities of the Company or related investments in connection with the Offering or otherwise. Accordingly, references in any prospectus, if published, to the shares being issued, offered, subscribed, acquired, placed or otherwise dealt in should be read as including any issue or offer to, or subscription, acquisition, placing or dealing by, such Managers and any of their affiliates acting as investors for their own accounts. The Managers do not intend to disclose the extent of any such investment or transactions otherwise than in accordance with any legal or regulatory obligations to do so.
Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as “believe”, “aims”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intends”, “estimate”, “will”, “may”, “continue”, “should” and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements.
The Offering may be influenced by a range of circumstances, such as market conditions, and there is no guarantee that the Offering will proceed and that the listing will occur.
Certain figures contained in this document, including financial information, have been subject to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, in certain instances, the sum or percentage change of the numbers contained in this document may not conform exactly with the total figure given.
The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date, and are subject to change without notice.