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Oatly was founded in 1993 or 1994 by food scientist Rickard Öste and his brother Björn Öste. The parent company of Oatly AB is Ceba AB, which was founded by Rickard Öste, Ingegerd Sjöholm, Inger Ahlden and Lennart Lindahl together with the cereals company Skånska Lantmännen on February 17, 1994 Oatly Group changed its name from Havre Global AB on 1 March 2021.Oatly is now part-owned by The Blackstone Group , Verlinvest, China Resources , Industrifonden, Östersjöstiftelsen, and the employees. The group also included celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, as well as Starbucks founder Howard Schultz.In 2020, Oatly's sale of a US$200-million stake to investors including the Blackstone Group, which has financed companies driving extensive deforestation in the Amazon, as well as driving road development into the depths of the jungle for export of foodstuffs, angered consumers and led to a backlash against the company.In 2021, Oatly applied to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "OTLY". When the company set terms for its initial public offering, its potential value was estimated at more than $10 billion. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse were the underwriters. OTLY stock was priced at $17 but had its first public trade at $22.12 on the first day.On July 14, 2021, short seller Spruce Point Capital published a report questioning Oatly's management and sustainability. After the announcement Oatly's stock briefly went below IPO, resulting in several class-action lawsuits. Glenn Vanzura of Mayer Brown stated that it's common in other industries that after a short-seller targets a company to drive down stock price, a class action lawsuit is filed, noting that such lawsuits are often dismissed.Oatly took a small British firm, Glebe Farm Foods, to court, alleging it had infringed Oatly's trademark by selling cartons of an oat-based drink called "PureOaty". In August 2021, the judge dismissed Oatly's case at London's High Court, concluding there was only a "very modest level of similarity" between the Glebe Farm branding and Oatly's.In the beginning of 2022, several Oatly ads were banned by the Advertising Standards Authority , a private regulatory body. The ASA did not dispute Oatly's claim that a vegan diet would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the ASA found consumers could confuse claims for Oatly Barista Edition with its other products, and that a study comparing the meat and dairy industry to the transportation industry did not compare the two equally.
