(Reuters) -LandBridge, a landowner in the oil-rich Permian Basin, said on Monday it was looking to raise up to $319 million in its U.S. initial public offering (IPO) that could give it a potential valuation of up to $1.6 billion.
The company, backed by private equity firm Five Point Energy, owns about 220,000 surface acres in the basin that it can lease to oil and natural gas producers. It also sells resources extracted from its land.
LandBridge says this business model, which largely depends on fee-based contracts, reduces its susceptibility to volatility in commodity prices at a time when geopolitical and other risks have cast a shadow on oil demand.
Last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration slightly upgraded its oil demand growth estimate for 2024, but a flurry of weak economic data from China kept optimism in check on Monday.
LandBridge said it plans to sell 14.5 million shares priced between $19 and $22 each. It will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LB.”
Public markets in the U.S. have seen an influx of IPOs in the last few months after a nearly two-year dry spell, as expectations of a soft landing for the economy encourage companies to list their shares.
Goldman Sachs and Barclays are the lead underwriters for the IPO.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
