Buy the Debt, Control the Board

“It is in real estate that Kjell Inge Røkke has performed his toughest stunts, and it is here he has used some of the toughest methods. Method number one has been to buy up the debt of crisis-stricken companies and then pressure the management and owners to beg for mercy. When you sit with large loans and do not have money to pay interest, then you do not have much to say. With the merger with Avantor, Røkke's foreign properties were separated out so that they were not included in the deal. Thus, Ken Uptain continued to manage the luxurious Grand Harbor project in Florida and the less lucrative Lynnwood shopping center in Seattle for RGI. At the beginning of the 90s, Uptain represented one of the real veterans in Røkke's business life. They had known each other since the first party in 1984 and had been partners in many hundreds of apartments. Moreover, it was Uptain who came up with the name that would become Røkke's: The Resource Group, which eventually became RGI. Now, he was a bit sidelined as Jan Petter Storetvedt emerged as the new real estate comet within the group.”

“Kjell Inge Røkke has a phenomenal ability to pick winners and bring them into his fold. And he strikes when it suits the opponents least. A good example is the Seattle-based Svåsand family and their Aleutian Spray Fisheries. The boats were operated by the Norwegian Bernt O. Bodal, who had been at sea for many years as a captain and was a key employee in the shipping company. Bodal used his position to obtain ownership shares, but there was constant quarreling between the owners and the manager about which direction the shipping company should take, and economically, it was doing poorly. From the sidelines, Røkke watched as the shipping company dug itself deeper into debt, he fancied the boats and made his plans. So when the bank put the screws on the shipping company, Røkke struck and bought the debt. Now it was Kjell Inge Røkke who could dictate the terms. The first thing he did was to buy out Bernt O. Bodal by tempting him with ownership shares. The old owners couldn't do much and just had to accept being bought out for next to nothing. The outcome was that Røkke and Bodal started American Pacific Fisheries and took over "Pacific Navigator," "Pacific Scout," and "Pacific Explorer." Bodal received 20 percent. In this way, Kjell Inge Røkke managed to kill two birds with one stone: He secured the small, but top-modern trawlers, and at the same time recruited a man he considered very skilled. The ownership share Bodal received ensured that he was bound to the mast for the foreseeable future.”