Partners Robert Burud (51) and Jan Lyder Isaksen (63) built up a company that owned 23 Kiwi stores in central Eastern Norway. Last year, the duo sold their 49 percent stake in the company Oslofjordmat as to Norgesgruppen, which previously owned 51 percent of the company. The sale took place through the company Jaro Invest, which Lydersen and Burud jointly own.
The Norwegian group paid
A shareholder agreement with Norgesgruppen meant that Lydersen and Burud in practice ran the 23 Kiwi stores as independent stores. In 2021, the 23 stores had an annual turnover of almost NOK 1.5 billion.
The FA referred to Norgesgruppen’s purchase of the stores from the two grocery founders in late summer last year. Then they would not say anything about the price, referring to an agreement with the buyer Norgesgruppen.
But the accounts from Jaro Invest for 2022 are now with the Brønnøysund registers, and show a financial income of NOK 235.4 million. There are many indications that this item relates to the profit linked to the store sale. That prices the 23 stores in Oslofjordmat at around NOK 460 million.
Lydersen neither rejects nor confirms the amount when DN confronts him about it.
– I have no comment. We do not want any mention of this, says Lydersen.
DN has tried to get a comment from Robert Burud, without success.
There are around 700 Kiwi stores in Norway, of which around 70 are now merchant-owned and run as franchises. The 23 stores in Oslofjordmat are now completely chain-owned by Norgesgruppen and will be run in line with the other over 600 chain-owned Kiwi stores in Norway.
Bet 300,000 kroner each
Both Lydersen and Burud grew up in grocery merchant families. For Robert Burud, however, the connection to Kiwi is somewhat closer than for other franchisees in the chain: his cousin Per-Erik Burud is the founder and CEO of the Kiwi chain. Per-Erik Burud died in a boat accident in 2011.
– It is really a coincidence that we ended up in the same chain, but we have both grown up in the raisin drawer, Robert Burud has previously told DN.
He started playing shop in his uncle’s business in Drammen as early as seven years old.
– While Per-Erik built up and ran Kiwi, I started as a bottling assistant and worked my way up, said Robert Burud.
Over 20 years ago, Burud and Isaksen invested NOK 300,000 each and opened their own Kiwi shop with a franchise agreement in Asker.
In an earlier interview with Finansavisen, the two said that at the beginning things were slow and that they had to borrow money from the family to pay salaries. The fact that cousin Per-Erik Burud was a major owner in Kiwi from the very beginning of the 1990s did not give any special advantages either.
– The 300,000 we bet each was a lot of money for us at the time. But today it has become a giant shop, Isaksen told Finansavisen in 2015.
Goes for property
Isaksen is silent about future plans, and Burud has not responded to DN’s inquiries. The two own some property, and they have previously said that they will develop housing and commercial property, including in Tønsberg.
The latest available balance sheet for 2021 shows that Burud had an income of NOK 17.4 million and a net worth of NOK 25.5 million, while Lydersen had an income of NOK 17.2 million and a net worth of NOK 28.1 million. The equation for 2022 will probably show a sharp increase for both.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using links, which lead directly to our pages. Copying or other forms of use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see here.
2023-05-27 06:21:43
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