Cash Up Before the Crash

“But what he did wasn’t too terribly foolish, to put it that way. Because the crisis taught Røkke to fill up the cash register ahead of possible bad weather. In autumn 1995, money poured into RGI's coffers. First they spun off Norway Seafoods and brought in 720 million kroner there. And since then, RGI sold new shares for a total of 800 million kroner.”

“The summer of 1991 was no golden age in the troubled American real estate market, Røkke and Uptain had painfully experienced. Indeed, they managed to sell off almost everything before the market completely bottomed out, but nobody gets rich by selling chickens in the drizzle, so Uptain was puzzled by his partner's sudden aggressiveness and desire to buy. Buying big now did not sound specifically smart, but the prudent property man knew better than to doubt Røkke's instincts. Was it not precisely the Norwegian's ability to buy when no one else would that had made them wealthy?”