Eimskip public share offering was oversubscribed five times over

ICELANDIC shipping company Eimskip's public offering has been oversubscribed more than five times at total application value of ISK11 billion (US$8 million) for the five per cent stake in the company.

The public share sale of 10 million shares at ISK208 per share created a total of ISK2.08 billion.

The first Icelandic company to list since December 2011 following its expansion in acquisitions of transportation assets which led to severe over-indebtedness made difficult by the banking crisis of 2008 in Iceland.

Its chief executive officer Gylfi Sigfusson said the response from investors was pleasing: "The public offering results indicate that the number of shareholders following the listing will be around 3,000 which means that the company will have a diversified ownership base as I had hoped for."