Fredgaard and Fona combine forces

Fredgaard and Fona, Denmark’s largest retail chains within entertainment and communication electronics are merging into one company, Fona Gruppen A/S, which will change its name to F Group A/S.

Future activities of F Group A/S will include:

* The Fona chain will continue under the Fona brand offering a wide product range. Fona’s strong music offering will continue.

* Likewise, the Fredgaard chain will continue under the Fredgaard brand as the more service minded chain, specialising in customer service and advice.

* F Group A/S’s financing activities will be combined into Dan-Aktiv A/S with a consumer finance portfolio of approx. DKK 1.3 billion (approx. EUR 174 million).

* The service shops of Fredgaard and Fona will also be combined and continue under the name, Elektronik-Centret.

* Finally, the business-to-business activities will be combined under the name, Fredgaard Erhverv.

The newly created retail chain will have a market share of around 30%, a net turnover of approx. DKK 2.2 billion (approx. EUR 295 million) and an equity capital of approx. DKK 550 million (approx. EUR 74 million). F Group will be the largest retail operator within entertainment and communication electronics – and will drive the consolidation of the Danish market.

F Group A/S is expecting annual synergies of approx. DKK 75 million (approx. EUR 10 million) as a result of combining the two headquarters’ activities into one at the Øster Allé address in Copenhagen; a greater purchasing power and general cost savings. The implementation of the planned activities will be carried out before the year-end of 2001.

Fredgaard Radio A/S will own 63% and Fona Gruppen Holding A/S 37% of the share capital in F Group A/S. Fona Gruppen Holding A/S is owned by the Industri Kapital 1997 Fund. In addition Fona Gruppen Holding will be receiving preference shares of DKK 80 million (approx. EUR 11 million) in F Group A/S.

Michael Kjær becomes Managing Director of F Group A/S. Paul Kjær becomes Chairman of the Board and Christian Lorenzen becomes Deputy Chairman.

For further information please contact:
Michael Kjær, Managing Director, Fredgaard Radio A/S, tel. +45 35 25 60 00, or
Christian Lorenzen, Director, Industri Kapital, tel. +49 172 912 9996