Orkla

"The change in strategy at Skandia in 1998 gave Christer Dahlström and his three colleagues the opportunity to buy the business, which they named Priveq (a play on “private equity,” which is the English equivalent of risk capital firms). Skandia invested 600 million in the first fund, and Norwegian Orkla, ICA, Handelsbanken Liv and the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund each invested 100 million. With a billion in their pockets, they moved out from Skandia on Sveavägen to their own office, hired four people and got started."

"Therefore, Wittusen brought the two together one afternoon for a meeting at Heyerdahl's office at Orkla's main office, which at that time was located at Lysaker. There was no talk of a partnership at first sight, as there was simply too much that separated the two: Kjell Inge Røkke was the unpolished and impulsive – a man of action, while Jens P. Heyerdahl, on the other hand, liked to take his time. As the most patient and tenacious leader of Norwegian industry, he had made a career of wearing out his opponents. Heyerdahl's trademark was to wait them out, as it's said, and he wanted to take his time this time as well. Kjell Inge Røkke would have to prove his worth before he entered Heyerdahl's sphere."

"For Johnny Austad, Gresvig was a saga that made him a multimillionaire. When he turned 40, he bought himself a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and he made the roads in Inner Østfold unsafe. But only for a short while, because soon after, he was paralyzed in half of his face. The muscles in his face couldn't handle the wind, so he had to stop riding motorcycles. Instead, it was back to business, as they were now looking for more brands, and Austad had no doubt when he spoke with Gjelsten and Røkke: As a customer, he had experienced the Mosse-company Helly Hansen up close, and there was much that could be improved. "If you are going to buy a new brand, it must be Helly Hansen," said Austad. In Austad's eyes, Helly Hansen did everything wrong. Instead of making what customers wanted, they made products that suited production. They held a world-leading brand, but only had products for bad weather – a type of weather that almost only existed north of the Arctic Circle. Orkla CEO Jens P. Heyerdahl had also noticed the pupil's good handling with Gresvig. It was Orkla that owned Helly Hansen, and Heyerdahl knew all too well that they had never managed to get things running smoothly. Helly Hansen was one of the last textile factories to move production from Norway to Portugal, and when the rest moved on to the East, Helly Hansen was left with a large Portuguese factory. Something was fundamentally wrong, the Orkla CEO understood."

"However, Jens P. Heyerdahl is a crafty fox, and he set tough conditions to join the Røkke race. If Orkla were to join, Kjell Inge Røkke and Bjørn Rune Gjelsten had to commit to spending all their time at RGI. At the same time, they had to promise not to engage in private business on the side. If the Orkla boss was going to be a passenger, then he demanded that the two bosses be firmly tied to the driver's seat."