The CEO of Carlsberg Breweries has indicated that the company would find it easier to raise cash in the event of an investment opportunity if it was listed on the stock exchange.

Carlsberg Breweries is 40% owned by the Norwegian industrial group Orkla and 60% owned by Carlsberg A/S. The two companies do have an agreement that could make a listing possible.

"It could be favourable to have a stock listing if we have a good investment opportunity," CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen told Norwegian business daily Finansavisen. "Hopefully, a listing would be combined with a share issue in Carlsberg Breweries," he said.

However, Orkla spokesman Ole Kristian Lunde was quoted by Reuters as saying: "It is correct that we have a deal about possible bourse listing, but we do not see any great need from our side to use that possibility now."