May 2024
We are pleased to bring you the Conyers Norway Bulletin for 2024, in which we highlight developments affecting Bermuda incorporated companies in the Norwegian market over the past year.
The Oslo Børs continues to serve as an exchange of choice for a range of prominent public companies, despite persistent macroeconomic instability posing a significant challenge for the initiation of new IPOs. Factors such as rising interest rates, inflation, and heightened global geopolitical tensions stemming from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have dampened deal activity in the Norwegian market. IPO volume on the Oslo Børs in 2023 mirrored 2022, with only two launches completed alongside an additional IPO on Euronext Expand exchange.
On the positive side, shipping, oil and gas, and energy companies remain the cornerstone industries, with robust performance throughout last year leading to an approximate 10 percent increase in the Oslo Børs main index. Despite optimistic predictions for 2023, M&A transactions witnessed a modest decline in activity throughout the year, although deal valuations experienced a marginal uptick. The outlook for 2024 suggests a promising return of market activity, with the first quarter of 2024 ending in tempered confidence. There are a growing number of M&A deals in the pipeline which has fueled expectations for heightened market activity for Q3 and Q4 of this year.