ABSTRACT
The chapter deals with the inroads of private equity and other financial companies in the Norwegian food sector. Private equity companies may be defined as financial groups established to purchase undervalued companies or companies with a promising future in order to restructure them. Their goal is not to own companies for many years; most often they are sold after 5–7 years in order to realize profit for their owners. A number of equity companies have been globally active in the food sector, taking over food processors as well as supermarket chains. The Nordic countries have had a food-producing sector characterised by strong farmer-owned cooperatives. Retail trade in the Nordic countries has, since the early 1990s, been dominated by a limited number of large supermarket chains, one of these cooperatively owned by the customers. A strong interventionist tradition of industrial and trade regulation and strong trade unions also characterize these countries. Relevant questions are: How does the strong cooperative and labour union presence in the Norwegian food and retail sector influence equity takeover processes? And, what impact may be seen from political regulation and intervention? Two cases from the Norwegian food sector have been chosen for empirical investigation. The analysis shows that the Norwegian interventionist political tradition and trade regulations slow down, shape and even prevent the private equity acquisition process.
