Danish Energy Trader MFT to Sell Stake After Banner Year

(Bloomberg) -- Danish energy trader MFT Energy P/s plans to sell a stake to raise more capital and continue its global expansion. 

The company, which boosted profit more than eightfold last year, is looking for funds or assets to boost its trading book, said Chief Executive Officer Bo Palmgren, who took over the helm this month. He declined to comment on the size of the sale or how much it could potentially fetch.  

MFT is part of a cadre of fast-growing traders based in Aarhus, a Danish city which in the last decade has turned into a European hub for power and gas trading. Some of its peers have already taken on outside backers to continue their rapid expansion and strengthen balance sheets.

“We already have the skills and the muscles, but a potential buyer would ensure we can grow even faster,” Palmgren said by email. “Our ambition is to build a global energy trading house. And a potential buyer would give us financial resources to speed up that process.”

The company is in no rush to sell and is waiting for the right match, he said.

Its strategy to expand to other parts of the world is already well under way. Founded in 2017, MFT trades energy in almost 40 markets, with offices in Aarhus, Singapore, Turkey, and Australia. 

The most notable sale yet of a Danish energy trader is Norwegian energy major Equinor ASA’s purchase of Danske Commodities A/S for 400 million euros ($437 million) in 2018. Just four years later, Danske made a profit of more than 2 billion euros. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has also bought a minority stake in InCommodities A/S. 

MFT Energy, which is using Domestic investment bank FIH Partners A/S as an adviser, had planned to sell shares in an initial public offering, but that’s now off the agenda.

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