Jordanes AS, owner of the Scandza Group, has reached an agreed with Umoe AS to acquire 100% of the shares in Umoe Restaurants AS. At the same time, Jens Ulltveit-Moe becomes a shareholder in Jordanes and a Director of the Board.
Umoe Restaurants is a leading player within restaurants, take away and home delivery, with brands such as Peppe’s Pizza, Fattigman, La Baguette and Kjøkken og Kaffe. Umoe Restaurants is also franchisee of TGI Fridays in Norway, and Starbucks in Norway and Sweden. Umoe Restaurants has 140 restaurants (incl. Franchisees) and a normalized annual turnover of NOK 1.3 billion.
Jordanes owns the branded consumer goods company Scandza which owns and develops iconic brands such as Synnøve Finden, Sørlandschips, Leiv Vidar, Finsbråten, and several well-known brands in Sweden and Denmark. Jordanes had sales in 2020 of approx. NOK 5 billion.
Umoe Restaurants and Scandza have collaborated since 2009. Scandza has been responsible for sales and development of the Peppes brand for grocery retail. In 2019, the collaboration was further strengthened through joint ownership of Westend Bakeries for the production and marketing of Peppes products. This has made Peppes a strong challenger to established brands within pizza in grocery retail.
The owner of Umoe Restaurants, Jens Ulltveit-Moe, states:
– I have followed the development of Scandza since the beginning of the collaboration between our companies and have been impressed by their ability to innovate and create growth through strong brands. I have owned Umoe Restaurants since 2002 and have strong feelings for the company. I am convinced that Umoe Restaurants and Scandza with joint ownership will be able to exploit synergies, further develop the group’s brands and establish new ones. I look forward to contributing to this both as a shareholder and Director of the Jordanes Board.”
Chairman of the Board in Jordanes, Stig Sunde, states:
– Scandza was established in 2007 based on a strategy to offer strong local food and beverage brands to Scandinavian consumers in all consumer situations, regardless of whether the purchases are made in the grocery store or kiosk, at the restaurant or at gas station. Through the acquisition of Umoe Restaurants, we reach consumers through additional channels. We are very pleased that Jens Ulltveit-Moe has chosen to become a significant shareholder in Jordanes.”
– Our strength is to develop strong brands and create growth. We look forward with great joy and anticipation to take such an iconic brand as Peppes to the next level as well as further developing the company’s restaurants and cafes together with the [highly competent] people in the organization, adds an optimistic Stig Sunde.
Jordanes will continue to be controlled by partners Karl Kristian Sunde, Jan Bodd and Stig Sunde as well as close to one hundred employees.
The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of May this year.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
