Newly created oil and gas group Wintershall DEA plans to hold an initial public offering in the second half of the next year, its chief executive told Reuters, in a deal that could become one of the largest European listings in 2020.

Sources said in April that Wintershall DEA had picked the banks to arrange its stock market flotation. Mario Mehren, the CEO of the company, confirmed the plans.

"We are preparing ourselves for the potential IPO of the company, we want to be IPO-ready by the mid of next year and then if the market's circumstances are good, in the second half of next year our shareholders would intend to float the company," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Russia.

Copyright Reuters, 2019