Ørsted issues new shares at a 67% discount to market price

Shares in Danish energy giant and one of the global leaders in offshore wind farm (OWF) development, Ørsted, went into freefall in August this year. The main reason was the announcement of a planned, but unavoidable due to several circumstances, new share issue worth up to USD 9.4 billion. Ørsted is issuing the new shares at a significant discount to the market price.

Ørsted is currently facing a number of problems which, taken together, represent a major obstacle and therefore a high degree of risk for investors. These include rising interest rates, which are increasing project financing costs; supply chain disruptions delaying projects; a significant increase in costs associated with the construction of wind farms themselves; and, last but not least, a change in the approach of the US administration led by Donald Trump towards wind power. He has made no secret of his opposition to the sector.

Against this backdrop, attention is focused particularly on two projects in which Ørsted holds an equity stake: Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind. The former is a project with planned total capacity of 924 MW in New York State. In April, the US administration ordered work to stop on a neighbouring project run by Norway's Equinor, raising concerns that Sunrise Wind could face the same fate. The stop-work order was revoked in May, but concerns, albeit significantly reduced, persisted. At the end of last month, however, a similar stop-work order was issued for the 704 MW Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island. It is already 80% complete.

Growing investor concerns over the problems described above are going hand in hand with capital outflows. Ørsted intends to address this through a new share issue worth up to USD 9.4 billion, equivalent to more than two-thirds of the company's current market capitalisation.

According to Reuters information from 15 September 2025, Ørsted priced the newly issued shares at DKK 66.6 (USD 10.46), while Ørsted shares are trading at around DKK 200 on the market. There are currently 420 million shares traded on the market, while the new issue is planned at 901 million shares.

"Today, we are launching a share issue through which we aim to raise capital to cover additional financial requirements related to the Sunrise Wind project and establish a strong financial foundation so that Ørsted can realise the potential of our business," Ørsted representatives said in a statement.

Norway's Equinor expressed its support for Ørsted and offered the company USD 1 billion in an effort to provide fresh capital for further project development.