Danish oil services firm Welltec studies IPO - paper

COPENHAGEN Feb 13 (Reuters) - Welltec, a Danish supplier of oil and gas well equipment, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) that would propel it into the Copenhagen stock exchange's benchmark share index, business daily Borsen reported.

The company is likely to achieve a market capitalisation of over 10 billion Danish crowns ($1.80 billion), according to the newspaper.

The group expects it made revenue of 1.35 billion to 1.5 billion crowns last year and that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) as a percentage of sales exceeded the previous year's 49 percent.

A listing "could happen shortly", founder and main shareholder Jorgen Hallundbaek told Borsen, while adding that a final decision had yet to be made.

"We should be entering the C20-index..., which would ensure we get a sufficient amount of attention," he said.

Last year, Welltec bought back shares from United States-based private equity group Summit Partners, which now holds 28 percent of its stock, according to Borsen.

It said Hallundbaek held about 60 percent and the rest is owned by Welltec employees.

Welltec has hired advisors for the IPO but has not yet chosen the lead investment bank for the listing, the paper added.