Selling the Estate Media baby for over 100 million

The purchase price for Estate Media AS has not been announced, but with a profit of NOK 15.2 million in 2019, it is reasonable to assume that it is on the order of NOK 100 million and a bit more. By comparison, companies on the Oslo Stock Exchange are typically valued at 12-14 times their expected earnings over the next twelve months.

This means that the entrepreneur from Gjerstad in Agder can get around NOK 100 million, as he owns 95 percent of the company. The chairman of the board, Jon Erik Brøndmo, owns the remaining 5 percent.

The boss himself is in the usual mood, but refuses to comment on the sale price when Nettavisen calls on Wednesday afternoon.

– We have agreed not to publish those details, but I can say that this is a very good agreement for both Bonnier and us, and not least for our employees. Now they have a giant on the owner’s side who has the strength to take the company much further, says Trond Valle.

Stay with the company

He has no plans to take the purchase price to the vague side after this wholesale. Through the sale agreement, Valle has agreed to remain with the company for the foreseeable future.

– Bonnier has not least bought from all of our solid people, who have been carefully reviewed in the buying process. Here they get a niche with specialists that is not easy for others to challenge through new establishments. I intend to be part of this team for a long time, he says.

The beginning

Last year, Trond Valle took out almost NOK 5 million in salary and other allowances. He first introduced himself to the media industry in the early 1990s as an advertising salesman at Dagens Næringsliv. He achieved what were internally referred to as “sensational results” and then pursued a career at Næringseiendom magazine. He, in turn, ended up buying this after establishing competitor Estate Media in 2000.

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Launch various titles

Estate Media publishes the print magazines Estate, Estate Lokaler and Bladet Næringseiendom and has digital news channels with the same name. Additionally, the company is a major player in the conference market with weekly and monthly events on various scales. Every year, they organize Real Estate Days, considered perhaps the most important meeting place for professional real estate agents in Norway.

Heavenly conference

The company and Trond Valle showed their innovative side when in 2016 they organized a real estate conference 10,000 meters above the ground. He then invited industry colleagues to fly with him to MIPIM in Cannes and held a seminar along the way.

The Estate Media AS group comprises four subsidiaries, including one in Denmark and one in Sweden. The Norwegian part represents 80 per cent of the total business. At the end of last year, the group had total assets of NOK 41.7 million and assets of NOK 10 million.

Fastighetsnytt also takes over the design and advertising agency Blake AS, which specializes in the real estate industry.

Happy buyer

Fastighetsnytt is part of the Di-Gruppen business area of ​​Bonnier News and also includes the Byggindustrin publication. Fastighetsnytt and Byggindustrin jointly organize the Construction Summit and the Business Arena meeting place, which is located in several Swedish cities.

– I am very happy to have been able to finalize this agreement. Through the acquisition of Estate Media, we are taking a Nordic approach to the exciting real estate sector. I am convinced that Fastighetsnytt and Byggindustrin have a lot to learn from Estate Media and vice versa. In the Di group, we now have our first business outside of Sweden, which is also exciting, says Peter Fellmann, director of the Di group, in a press release about the transfer.

PS: The online newspaper reporter has previously worked for Estate Media