Good timing for Statoil flotation (Aftenposten)

Statoil has published record profits, and prices for both oil and gas are high. The 18 June flotation of Statoil’s shares has every chance of success. The company will be one of the four or five largest flotations anywhere in the world this year. Orkla analyst Jon Gunnar Pedersen, who is advising the Petroleum and Energy Ministry on the Statoil privatization scheme, says that this will make it easier than the situation was when Telenor floated its shares last year, because Telenor was just one of a crowd.

Curtain up on Statoil’s pre-launch campaign (Dagens Næringsliv)

Yesterday the Government gave the final go-ahead for Statoil’s share flotation. Today the company launches a massive, NOK 115 million marketing campaign. For as executive vice president Inge K. Hansen admits, Statoil is totally unknown on the world’s stock markets. On top of the marketing campaign, Statoil will have to pay substantial fees to the stock brokers handling the actual sale of the company’s shares. How large the fees will be depends on how large a part of Statoil is sold and the price of the share. The brokers will receive 1.5 per cent of the total sales revenues, including a bonus if the stock market launch is a success. They could therefore receive fees amounting to several hundred million kroner.

Food prices set to rise by NOK 300 million (Aftenposten)

The Government has agreed to let farmers increase prices by NOK 300 million, but has refused to raise agricultural subsidies, increasing the chances of the capital being invaded by angry, tractor-driving farmers. The outline deal which the Government’s chief negotiator, Per Harald Grue, will present to the farmers’ unions today will probably be seen as derisory. If that is the case we could be one step closer to a breakdown in negotiations, at which point the farmers of Jæren have warned they will converge on Oslo in a convoy of tractors to protest their case.

Labour grass-roots put pressure on Agriculture Minister (Nationen)

Protests against the Government’s stance during this year’s negotiations on farm subsidies are coming from an increasing number of sides. From the west of Norway, 10 Labour mayors have sent a letter to the Agriculture Minister in an attempt to secure the future of farms in the region, and the Labour Party’s veterans’ group in Hedmark county has succeeded in getting the county’s branch committee to beat the drum in favour of family-owned farms and part-time farmers.

Centre Party critical of centre alliance partners (Dagsavisen)

According to Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen, the Progress Party will increase its influence if the current Labour government is replaced by a coalition consisting of the Liberals, Christian Democrats and Conservatives. Mr Enoksen is frustrated over the fact that both the Liberal leader, Lars Sponheim, and the Christian Democrats’ candidate for prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, have publicly been making overtures to the Conservatives. Mr Enoksen does not wish to criticize them directly, but there is a considerable sense of frustration in the Centre Party over what they see as the Christian Democrats and Liberals undermining the credibility of a future centre alliance government.

Moscow knew about Norway’s nuclear plans (Aftenposten)

Five days after the Norwegian Defence Minister informed the Storting’s Foreign Affairs Committee of the government’s plans to build nuclear weapons storage facilities in Norway, committee chairman, Finn Moe, passed the information on to the Soviet ambassador. The Soviet Union therefore knew more about Norway’s nuclear defence plans than the Norwegian people. As far as is known Mr Moe, a leading Labour Party politician, acted on his own initiative and without the knowledge of the government. Secret British documents show that NATO had abandoned any thought of defending Finnmark. The Soviet Union could have occupied the North of Norway in just a few hours without NATO taking any retaliatory action.

Ovation for Bill Clinton (Dagsavisen)

Former US president Bill Clinton took Norway by storm. He may never have that job again, but when Bill Clinton paid Norway a return visit, he received a welcome fit for a president. There were ovations from the crowds of people who had turned out to greet him wherever he went. And the celebrated speech that 1,400 people had paid through the nose to hear at the Oslo Concert Hall? "Nothing is more passé than a former president," writes Dagsavisen’s former editor Steinar Hansen.

Tax-payers to foot the bill for Clinton’s security (Aftenposten)

Bill Clinton came to Norway to pay off his lawyers’ fees. But the costs involved in ensuring the former president’s security while he was here, will be paid for by the Norwegian tax-payers and Ingebrigt Steen Jensen, head of the Dinamo advertising agency which organized the event. The last time Mr Clinton visited Norway in 1999 the security bill came to NOK 10-20 million. The police do not know what it will be this time. According to Chief of Staff Pål Fivel of the Oslo Police District, the police have a duty to ensure the safety of any guests to whom there is a security risked attached, whether they are in the country on a private visit or in an official capacity. The event’s organizers were responsible for the security arrangements during the actual speech at the Oslo Concert Hall, and will pay all the costs involved.

Worth Noting

1. A third of Oslo’s population have not chosen a primary GP. As many as 2,000 called the primary GP scheme yesterday to complain about the doctor they have been assigned to, and an unknown number gave up before they came to the head of the hour-long telephone queue. Many people have been assigned to a doctor on the other side of the city. (Aftenposten)
2. The May opinion poll carried out by market research company, Opinion, confirms that support for the Conservatives is still rising. At least one in five of those who have already chosen who to vote for are Conservatives. Support for the three centre alliance parties remains low, and the three of them together have fewer voters than the Conservatives alone. Support for the Labour Party is still under 30 per cent, though today’s poll shows a gain in popularity. ( Aftenposten)
3. The chaos surrounding relations within Orkla’s board of directors continues. Bjørg Ven, chairman of the National Insurance Fund, Orkla’s largest shareholder, is unhappy that the employee representatives on the board have spoken publicly about the board’s internal affairs and alleged lack of cooperation between board members. Nor does Ms Ven trust their description of how Christen Sveaas conducts himself as a board member. (Dagens Næringsliv)
4. Norwegian private investors will receive a 15 per cent discount on the price of Statoil’s shares when these are floated on the stock exchange. The Government is planning to use the same method as when Telenor was launched on the stock market last year to encourage small investors to buy shares when our state-owned oil giant is put up for sale. (Verdens Gang)
5. Sweden’s Industry Minister Bjørn Rosengren paid NOK 13 million less to its advisers when Telia was floated on the stock exchange than Norway’s Industry Minister Grete Knudsen paid Telenor’s advisers. The Telia flotation raised over four times as much capital. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

Only two thirds of the electorate have already made up their minds who to vote for. How many of the over one million floating voters will go to the polls, and which parties will they vote for? Four months ahead of the election the relative strengths of the parties show that the Labour Party is struggling hard, that the Conservatives are on a roll, and that the three centre alliance parties look increasingly unlikely as an government alternative. The Labour Party has not had to face another dreadful poll result showing a dead-heat with the Conservatives. But that does not mean the possibility of the Conservatives winning a larger number of votes at the election than the Labour Party can definitely be ruled out. A Labour gain of 2.2 percentage points compared to the disastrous results from April could simply be a statistical adjustment rather than a political breakthrough. The Conservatives do not only have reason to be pleased by their steady progress in the opinion polls. They can also enjoy the fact that they score higher than any other party when voters are asked to name their second choice. The most interesting factor is that as many as 42 per cent of those who still say they will vote for the Progress Party have the Conservatives as their second choice. The pre-election excitement is rising – but more for some than for others.