As a family-owned investment company, we look for companies that share our values
Through constructive dialogue and close collaboration, we help our companies along their journey to becoming robust, sustainable and future-oriented businesses.
We look for companies that can help us to achieve our vision of creating enduring value and leaving clear footprints.
When we take an ownership stake in a company, we seek to make an active contribution as a value-adding partner. While we benefit from a significant degree of flexibility with regard to structure and types of influence, we want to be able to have an impact on the company’s choice of strategic path in order to minimise risk and ensure growth over time.
Ferd’s flexibility means that we can adapt to each individual company in order to ensure that the partnership benefits all parties to the greatest possible extent. In some instances the support we provide takes the form of specific resources, while in others we work actively with a company to help it challenge and develop its strategy.
Close dialogue, buy-in from all parties and close monitoring are important ingredients in most success stories. At Ferd-owned Mestergruppen, these ingredients have been very much present from the start, and have become all the more prominent in recent years. Our partnership with this company is a good example of the impact that collaboration in the area of strategy can have.
Ferd first became a shareholder in Mestergruppen in 2011. In the initial phase, the company underwent a turnaround operation in order to improve its profitability. This process was run by the company’s own management. We then raised our sights and developed a new plan for the company’s strategic development together with its management team. Through a combination of market consolidation and organic growth, the company has over the course of the last five years grown its revenue from NOK 3 billion to NOK 15 billion.
Growth often involves structural changes being made along the way. At Ferd, we have extensive expertise in M&A and provide our companies with assistance and guidance in relation to such processes. Our work in this area can involve identifying attractive potential acquisitions in the market, carrying out analysis work, executing transactions and helping a company to successfully integrate an acquisition.
To return to the example of Mestergruppen, Ferd has helped this company actively in relation to numerous such processes. This support has helped it to change up a gear with regard to carrying out attractive acquisitions. Mestergruppen is now considered to be Scandinavia’s largest group in the building materials market, membership chains for house building contractors and real estate development.
Mestergruppen’s outstanding growth is in many ways the result of collaboration on its strategy, extensive expertise in the development process and strong dialogue.
The company is largely franchise-operated and depends on good collaboration with its members. Without their ability to create a positive working environment and healthy financial results, the company would not be where it is today. This means that Ferd’s partnership with Mestergruppen is primarily a partnership with its members. The fact that they choose to be members is a good indicator that the collaboration is found to be constructive for all involved.
Mestergruppen is Scandinavia’s largest group in the building materials market, membership chains for house building contractors and real estate development. Its aim is to be the first choice for house building companies and building materials suppliers. Photo: Mestergruppen