Norway’s most successful communications company gets a new main owner.
Kjetil Try (62) is known as the founder, main owner and director of the advertising group Try, which is behind, among others, Try Reklame and Try Råd. The group was started in 1998 and today has around 350 employees.
After 23 years behind the levers, Try now gives control to the industrial and investment company Ferd, which buys 60 percent of the shares of Kjetil Try and the other partners. It writes Today’s business.
The newspaper estimates that the company’s value is around NOK 630 million, which is ten times the operating profit from 2020. In that case, the transaction for 60 per cent can be worth around NOK 380 million. Kjetil Try sells half of his shares, and can be left with a nice sum of NOK 70 million in cash, according to DN.
Have had a good eye for Try for a long time
In a joint message on their own websites, both Try and Ferd, the investment company of Johan H. Andresen and the daughters, write that the dialogue between the parties has taken place over a longer period of time, and that the greater the parties’ willingness to invest.
– We probably had not imagined that we would ever invest in an advertising agency, but as we got to know the company, we have seen that TRY is something far beyond a traditional advertising environment, says Erik Theodor Jakobsen in Ferd Capital in the message .
The parties report that the transaction will not lead to changes in corporate governance.
– TRY has barely come out of the starting block, so I look forward to the continuation in partnership with Ferd. In the last 5 years, we have more than doubled our turnover and increased the number of employees from 125 to the current 350, we have established ourselves in Bergen and we have managed to maintain our creative position, both in Norway and internationally. Now we will continue to invest together with Ferd as the majority owner. I am really looking forward to this, says Kjetil Try in the message.
The staff owns the rest
Ferd Capital will own 60 percent of Try, and the rest will be owned by employees in all the companies in the Try group. POL will continue as an independent company outside Try, the report states.
– Some will own less than today, but more employees will become owners and we believe this will be important in the future, says Rikke Reinemo, one of the leaders in Ferd Capital.
Try and Ferd
TRY started as an advertising agency by Kjetil Try and Einar Fjøsne in 1998. In 2007 the company bought the digital agency APT. In recent years, TRY has expanded to several business areas such as media agency, content production, film production, PR, consulting, design and digital service development through the companies TRY Opt, TRY Råd, TRY Pearl and the advertising agency and competitor POL.
Journey is an investment company owned by the fifth and sixth generation Andresen. The company actively pursues ownership and company development in, among other things, private and listed companies, financial investments and real estate development.
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