– They are mixed feelings – E24

On Christmas Eve, the acquisition fund EQT Infrastructure submitted a bid of NOK 8.6 billion for the transport company Torghatten AS. It is the largest private company in northern Norway. Acting Chairman Brynjar Forbergskog and his family own about 26 percent of the shares and can earn more than two billion kronor from the sale.

– We own 25 to 26 percent of the company. The company has 1,700 shareholders and 75 percent of the shares are owned by third parties, Brynjar Forbergskog tells iTromsø.

– The offer values ​​the company at NOK 8.6 billion. We haven’t found any other offers that match this, he adds.

Built the company

Forbergskog started in Torghatten in the late 1980s as CFO and it was he who laid out the bold plans for the board to turn the small bus company in Brønnøysund into a national company. When it became free to offer bus and ferry routes in the early 1990s, Torghatten emerged from Helgeland.

Forbergskog took over as CEO in 2005 and last year surpassed NKr 10 billion in turnover, before resigning as CEO before Christmas last year and instead became chairman of the board.

– Together with many talented colleagues, we have tried our best to do the best we can, says Forbergskog about 30 years with the company.

– Is it sad to sell?

– Yes, I must admit. They are mixed feelings. I hope that those who buy take care of what we have built. They confirm that the headquarters will still be located in Brønnøysund, says Forbergskog.

– How did you react when the offer came in?

– We had to deal with it. I’m too old to take off.

He doesn’t want to establish a time when the board was offered to sell the company to the takeover fund, but he says the process has been underway for some time. The offer was so good that the board quickly realized they had to present it to shareholders. There is a unanimous board that recommends sales. 51 percent of shareholders have already approved the offer, which needs a two-thirds majority to be accepted.

– We had not put the company up for sale. There was no sales process when the offer came in. It was of such a nature that the board of directors considered it unsustainable not to present it to shareholders. We at the board will take care of the shareholders, says Forbergskog.

– We did not find anything that matched the EQT offer, he adds.

Bet on salmon

It is a giant company that is now taking over Torghatten. The EQT fund is a global investment company with more than € 75 billion in raised capital and more than € 46 billion in total assets. The EQT funds feature companies in Europe, Asia and the United States with total operating income of more than 27 billion euros and about 159,000 employees, according to a press release issued by the two companies.

EQT offers NOK 192 per share to shareholders, including Torghatten’s stakes in Widerøe. The Forbergskog family owns 12.2 million shares in Torghatten through two companies, which with the EQT offer are worth NOK 2.35 billion. In recent years, Forbergskog has invested heavily in organic salmon farming in both Norway and Iceland, and says he is considering spending some of the money on salmon farming.

– We want to continue growing. If we are allowed to develop there. We want the authorities to issue licenses with strict environmental requirements and lice-free salmon, says Forbergskog, who is a co-owner of a salmon company that has developed a new type of cage for lice-free farmed salmon.

Torghatten has 7,000 employees and this year will have a turnover of around NOK 10 billion.