PRESS RELEASE BERGEN/FØRDE, 26 APRIL 2022

Frydenbø Bil officially announces the purchase of the family business, Berge & Co, with car dealerships in Sogn og Fjordane and Søre Sunnmøre. With this move, Frydenbø is expanding its geographical range and brand portfolio.

Photo: Arne Kjetil Møkster, group managing director at Frydenbø Bil. Photo: Photographer Trude Brun Wilhelmsen.

Expanding our brand portfolio

- This purchase is an important strategic move in expanding Frydenbø's geographical range and brand portfolio, says group managing director at Frydenbø Bil, Arne Kjetil Møkster.

Frydenbø has dealerships in Mandal, Kristiansand, Bergen, Sogndal, Førde and Sandane, and owns Polestar Space in downtown Bergen. In addition to being one of Norway's largest Volvo dealers, Frydenbø also sells cars for Nissan, Renault, Dacia, BYD and Maxus. Berge & Co is a dealer for Volkswagen, Volkswagen commercial vehicles, Audi and Škoda from locations in Førde, Sogndal, Stryn and Ørsta, and has workshop locations in Florø and Måløy.

- Berge & Co has done very well for many years and built up good relations with customers and suppliers. They offer strong brands, all known for their quality vehicles. Volkswagen, Volkswagen commercial vehicles, Audi and Škoda will be solid additions to our portfolio, which we look forward to offering to the market, Møkster said.

125 new colleagues

Berge & Co has 125 employees at six locations. The head office is located in Førde. After the acquisition, Frydenbø Bil will become a major vehicle workshop with a total of 365 employees.

- Success in the automotive industry requires a lot of expertise, a strong business culture and entrepreneurship – so we look forward to getting to know the organization and the talented employees at the company. We will cooperate on future developments of our business model and customer experience, Møkster said.

The car industry is changing

The automotive industry is at full speed into a new era where volume has become important. Signals emanating from factories and importers tell us that there are fewer owners in Norway now, but they are becoming larger.

– It is all about buying and selling, so we are happy to cooperate with an owner like Frydenbø – which represents a value base and culture we recognise ourselves, said the owner and CEO of Berge & Co, Øyvind Berge.

Berge & Co has from its inception in 1954 until today expanded slowly and steadily. In line with our good development, we have grown in number of departments, employees and profits. Our company has expanded into new sales districts, including the acquisitions in Stryn and Ørsta. Berge & Co has had an offensive and expansive line, and in practice has become as big as we can on our own in the Sogn og Fjordane region and in Søre Sunnmøre.

– Future growth anticipated by the factory and importers will require major investments, said Øyvind Berge. -After a joint assessment, we concluded that it would be too risky for Berge & Co to take this step alone. That is why we have no choice but to sell our workshop to an operator who has the financial means, knowledge and experience to ensure future operations – perhaps even nationally in the long term, Berge said.

The properties owned by Berge & Co are not a part of the deal, so they will continue to rent out their properties and run the real estate activities through the Berge family.

Photo: Øyvind Berge, CEO Berge & Co. Photo: Roy Sunde/Vookal.

Møller is satisfied

– I would like to thank Berge & Co, who for generations has been a loyal and solid partner for us at Harald A. Møller AS. They operate within a large district with strong performances in terms of sales and service. We are very pleased that Øyvind is joining us in our workshop activities, said Ulf Tore Hekneby, managing director at Harald A. Møller AS.

Harald A. Møller is part of the Møller Mobility Group, the leading car group in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The business was founded by Harald Aars Møller in 1936.

– We are very pleased that Berge & Co and our brand will be developing further with a new industrial investor like Frydenbø on the team. They are well-equipped to contribute to future consolidation of our networks across the board. Throughout this process, we have learned that Frydenbø is a value-driven, serious and offensive operator, which is something we value very highly at Harald A. Møller, Hekneby said.

Among Frydenbø's largest transactions

- Frydenbø has been quite successful in investing in and taking over many family companies throughout its history, and we are very pleased to be joined by the owners of Berge & Co. The Berge family has built their company up, brick by brick for many decades and has a proud heritage that we can relate to. We will manage and develop these values and jobs in the future," said Knut Herman Gjøvaag, owner and CEO of Frydenbø Group.

Photo: Knut Herman Gjøvaag, CEO and owner of Frydenbø Group. Photo: Photographer Trude Brun Wilhelmsen.

Frydenbø has made many investments over these hundred years, and the purchase of Berge & Co will be among the largest so far. With this purchase, Frydenbø is signalling that they are serious about plans to become a major national mobility operator in Norway.

The Frydenbø Group is a family-owned investment group, among which are Frydenbø Bil, Frydenbø Marine, Frydenbø Industri, Frydenbø Eiendom and Frydenbø NXT AS.

The Norwegian Competition Authority has been informed, and implementation is planned after their approval.

Berge & Co was founded as a family company in 1954 and has remained so until the present day. In the subsequent 70 years, their dealerships have expanded from selling 3 cars in the first year to around 2000 contracts in 2021. On the ownership side, they started by owning a small shop in Førde to building several large facilities in Sogn og Fjordane with several automobile departments. Berge & Co currently has six dealerships in Førde, Florø, Sogndal, Stryn, Måløy and Ørsta, and is a dealer for new cars from Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda – in addition to selling used vehicles. Close to 130 people work for the company, and figures for 2021 point to earnings of nearly 700 million kroner*.

Frydenbø Bil is one of Norway's largest dealerships. Along with Volvo, Frydenbø Bilsenter also sells for Nissan, Renault, Dacia, BYD and Maxus at eight locations from Sandane in the north to Mandal in the south. Frydenbø is a Polestar partner and partial owner of MyCar Group. Frydenbø Bilsenter earned about 2.6 billion kroner * in 2021 and distributed just over 6000 cars. Frydenbø Bilsenter has an industrial business model and is a preferred partner for car distribution among importers. Frydenbø Bil is the largest organization in Frydenbø Group, a family-owned corporation founded in 1916. Frydenbø operates in five business areas; INDUSTRY, AUTOMOTIVE, REAL ESTATE, MARINE AND NXT. The Group has 790 employees and earned 3.5 billion kroner * in 2021. Strategic focus areas: customer journey, team and sustainability. Vision: "We will create value through quality and world class service". Values: "enthusiastic, honest and responsible"

*Estimated – figures for 2021 are not fully revised.

For questions related to the information provided above, please contact Silje Ulla-Zahl suz@frydenbo.no Tel +47 928 35 966, Communications Director for Frydenbø Group, or directly with:

Arne Kjetil Møkster akm@frydenbo.no +47 932 32 818, group managing director for Frydenbø Bil.

Øyvind Berge oyvind.berge@moller.no +47 992 05 052, CEO and owner of Berge & Co.

Knut Herman Gjøvaag khg@frydenbo.no +47 982 60 290, CEO and owner of Frydenbø Group.