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The founder of the pizzeria says that it is not recognized in the statements to the president of the board that a sale process is being carried out in the chain. The chairman of the board denies that there are disagreements between the owners.
Pizzabakeren founders William Gulliksen and Jan Henrik Jelsa are two of the pizza giant’s five owners now in the process of being sold.
Jarle Aasland
Published:
There are many indications that Pizzabakeren, the Nordic region’s largest take-out pizza restaurant chain, may be getting new owners in no time.
On Thursday, the chairman of the board, Rolf Smedvig Hodne, told Dagens Næringsliv that a process was underway to sell the company.
In hindsight, E24 / Aftenbladet has contacted the chain’s founders and co-owners.
– I do not recognize myself at all in those statements, says one of them, William Gulliksen.
Gulliksen has said throughout the week that he will not deny or confirm a sale.
Said something that I shouldn’t say
Board chairman and owner Rolf Smedvig Hodne did not respond to E24 / Aftenbladet’s inquiries about the sales process on Thursday evening, something founder and board member Gulliksen commented as follows:
– Maybe you can’t locate him because he said something he shouldn’t have said.
E24 / Aftenbladet also asked CEO and founder Jan Henrik Jelsa a series of questions about the sales process during the week. Thursday night, he is also clear that Hodne’s statements must be on his own.
– I have no comments yet and I can’t answer if someone else has confirmed or denied something. You obviously know more than I do. If Rolf Hodne has a lot more to tell, it’s probably best to talk to him.
When E24 contacted President Hodne on Friday morning, he did not want to comment further on a sales process. It only says that they are “in the middle of something”, and that “we’ll see what happens.”
– But are there disagreements between the owners?
– No, it is not, he says and will not comment on the statements of the founder Gulliksen.
– I can’t comment on what others are saying, says Hodne.
In 2007, the original founders made a good profit when they sold 50 percent of the company to investors Rolf Smedvig Hodne and Arne Incoronato. As far as Aftenbladet knows, the price was NOK 180 million.
General manager Jan Henrik Jelsa together with his son owns 25 percent of the company, Gulliksen owns 12.5 percent and Arild Ask Bringeland owns 12.5 percent.
Traded for a billion
EY (formerly Ernst & Young) has been commissioned to study the market for a possible sale of Pizzabakeren, to the best of E24 / Aftenbladet’s knowledge. The process has been going on for a while now and should be finished by Christmas regardless of whether there will be a sale or not.
As far as E24 / Aftenbladet knows, the starting price on the prospectus must have been around NOK 2 billion. Currently, a sum of between NOK 1.2 and 1.5 billion is being negotiated.
At near record speed, the pizza group has gone from five sales and 13 million in turnover in 2003 to around 200 sales and 1,200 million in turnover last year. The profit before tax was NOK 83.2 million.
– I still remember when we opened the first store in Klepp 17 years ago. We made an opening offer with 99 crowns for pizza and soft drinks. People were leaving the houses, there were long lines and traffic chaos. People called the police to find out if there had been an accident since traffic stopped, William Gulliksen told Aftenbladet, laughing, in an interview a year and a half ago.
