Sykkylven, Norway – Qumei Home Furnishings has control of 98% of the shares in Norwegian furniture maker Ekornes, and plans to make the company private.
Ekornes: Qumei prepares to squeeze out remainers
Olav Holst-Dyrnes, Ekornes' CEO, welcomed the offer.
Qumei, a Chinese company, will also start to squeeze out the remaining shareholders with a compulsory offer. The Chinese company had gained over 50% of the shares in late July as part of a friendly take over offer.
The Norwegian company claims to be one of the largest furniture manufacturers in Europe. It has five factories in Norway, one in the US, and three split between Thailand and Vietnam.
In 2017, it had sales of NOK 3.1bn ($380 m) and employed 2140 people.
On 4 June, it received a voluntary offer from Qumei Home Furnishings Group. This valued the Norwegian company at around NOK 5.7bn.
The offer was NOK 139/share. That was about 27% more than the Ekornes share price had been in in the month before the offer.
