Case Study

OW Bunker (B): From top to flop in eight months

1 pages
October 2019
Reference: IMD-7-2127

Despite 1) being listed as a new darling on the stock exchange 2) an appreciation of the share price of 20% soon after the listing exceeding US$ 1 billion in market cap 3) a high profile Board of Directors 4) creditable sponsors of the IPO (such as Morgan Stanley), it became a mystery and dramatic meltdown, when the company filed for bankruptcy less than 8 months after the listing. As can repeatedly be seen from the IPO prospectus, it was supposedly a low margin but also low risk operation, because of the apparent diligent risk control of the company. So, what went wrong? The case will describe the dynamics which took place pre- and post the IPO and led to the bankruptcy. It will cover aspects such as Corporate Governance of the Board, ethics surrounding IPO’s and prospectus, risk management or a lack of it, Board composition and best practices and not least the HALO effects of a successful CEO and a highly reputable and respected new Board of Directors.

Learning Objective
  • The target of the B case is to learn from it in order for us to detect and deal with warning signals about poor governance earlier.
Keywords
Corporate Governance, Board, Risk Management, Initial Public Offering, Prospectus, Bankruptcy, Collapse, Fraud
Settings
Denmark
OW Bunker, Materials, Oil and Gas
March 28th, 2014 – November 7th, 2014
Type
Published Sources
Copyright
© 2019
Available Languages
English
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This case study is part of a series
  • OW Bunker (A): Denmark’s biggest IPO ever
  • OW Bunker (B): From top to flop in eight months
This case study is part of a series
  • OW Bunker (A): Denmark’s biggest IPO ever
  • OW Bunker (B): From top to flop in eight months
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OW Bunker (A): Denmark’s biggest IPO ever
By Anand Narasimhan Jens Famgronning Tino Bendix and Yvonne Wutzler
Case reference: IMD-7-2126 ©2019
Summary
OW Bunker, founded in 1953, was a Danish marine fuel (“bunker”) company. It was Denmark’s third largest company (measured on revenue) and the world...
Reference IMD-7-2126
Copyright ©2019
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization OW Bunker
Industry Materials, Oil and Gas
Available Languages English
Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

OW Bunker (B): From top to flop in eight months
By Anand Narasimhan Jens Famgronning Tino Bendix and Yvonne Wutzler
Case reference: IMD-7-2127 ©2019
Summary
Despite 1) being listed as a new darling on the stock exchange 2) an appreciation of the share price of 20% soon after the listing exceeding US$ 1 ...
Reference IMD-7-2127
Copyright ©2019
Copyright owner IMD Copyright
Organization OW Bunker
Industry Materials, Oil and Gas
Available Languages English
Contact

Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications