Eirik Vardøy started at Carnegie through an internship in 2017, and has been an employee in Investment Banking since 2018, where he works with ECM.
“I started at Investment Banking in 2018, and also spent six months in Stockholm as part of an intern[1]ship. I’ve been part of the ECM team in Oslo since 2020. We help companies with financing through IPOs, new issues or expansion of the shareholder base, for instance.”
How did the pandemic affect your ability to provide good advisory?
“The travel restrictions have forced us to funda[1]mentally reassess how our processes should be designed, and have accelerated a digital transformation. The IPO of Pepix on the Oslo Stock Exchange in May 2020 marked the end of the IPO slump and was also the first completely digitally marketed IPO. All communication between our analysts, company management and potential investors was digital, carried out via Pepix’s own video conferencing software. All listings since Pepix have primarily used digital communications to interact with investors, and I believe virtual listing processes are here to stay, because they really are a win-win, resulting in less travel, the ability to reach a wider audience and more efficient processes.”
“I believe virtual listing processes are here to stay, because they really are a win-win, resulting in less travel, the ability to reach a wider audience and more efficient processes.”
Norway broke the IPO record in the middle of the pandemic. What can you tell us about the year?
“In Norway, Euronext Growth, formerly Merkur Market, delivered explosive growth as a company listing destination. The equity trading market is operated by the Oslo Stock Exchange, which is part of Euronext. The listing requirements are somewhat less extensive than for the main stock exchange, which is attracting a lot of exciting, high growth companies that otherwise might have been hesitant about a conventional IPO. In 2020 alone, nearly 50 new companies began to be traded on Euronext Growth Oslo, compared to about 10 the year before. Within ECM, we generally had a very high volume of transactions in 2020 and, happily, Carnegie took its rightful share. We participated in or led 86 ECM deals in Europe in 2020, more than any other investment bank.”