Rautakesko plans to expand hardware retail business to Norway

Finnish company wants to buy Norwegian market leader

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Rautakesko, Finland's leading hardware retailer, is planning to buy a major Norwegian hardware store chain.
      Negotiations between the Finnish Kesko and Norway's Norgros, the owner of the Byggmakker chain, are to be brought to a conclusion by the end of July.
      Rautakesko CEO Jari Lind will not say what the purchase price of the majority shareholding in Norgros might be, because the negotiations are incomplete, and many issues remain open.
      Lind says that the enlargement is part of Rautakesko's strategy in recent years, in which it aims at becoming the market leader in the Nordic Countries and the Baltic States.
     
Norgros had a turnover of more than EUR 490 million last year. Its profit before goodwill amortisation was EUR 12.7 million.
      The hardware store chain is Norway's largest, with an 18% market share.
      The Byggmakker chain has 133 stores, 20 of which are directly owned by Norgros, and the rest are in the hands of private owners through franchising agreements.
      In Finland, the combined market share of Rautakesko retail outlets under the K-Rauta and Rautia brands is between 30 and 35%.
     
In Sweden, Rautakesko estimates that it is in seventh place, with a share of about four percent of the overall market. 


Links:
  Rautakesko press release 6.6.05: Rautakesko negotiating about acquiring a Norwegian hardware and building materials chain

Helsingin Sanomat