Strong Nordic focus for Dolphin with new owners

The sale of Dolphin was formalised on 4 August with the private equity funds Verdane and Via Venture Partners each taking out a 48 per cent stake in the company. The remaining four percent shareholding is owned by the company’s management.

“Dolphin represents an extremely exciting investment for Verdane. The aim is to take this strong Norwegian company to the rest of the Nordic market. Since 1985 we have helped a significant number of Norwegian companies to establish themselves in new markets and are confident that Dolphin will enjoy considerable success in other countries,” comments Arne Simensen, Senior Associate at Verdane Capital Advisors’ Oslo office.

Jakob Rybak-Andersen, Partner at Danish-based Via Venture Partners explained: “Dolphin is an exciting business in a small niche, with cutting-edge expertise, a highly accomplished management team and a strong position in Norway. We are looking forward to playing an active role on the board together with Verdane and generating further growth, both organically and through consolidations in Norway and internationally.”

The team at Dolphin is also thrilled with the sale and the new owners: “With their expertise and financial strength, Verdane Capital Advisors and Via Venture Partners will help us to further develop the company and position ourselves for further growth. We are delighted to welcome expert professional investors onboard as owners,” commented CEO Smeby.

In recent years Dolphin’s 30 employees have generated steady and healthy growth, and the company posted sales of NOK 48 million in 2010. Over the last year the portfolio has been expanded to include companies such as Sparebank 1 Alliansen, Eidsiva Energi and Viking Redningstjeneste.

Dolphin has several product launches in the pipeline, including “SocialCRM” a customer service solution for social media, a market Smeby believes is overdue for such a professional solution. The company is also launching a new customer service solution based on Microsoft Lync aimed at the SMB market, a move that represents a strategic expansion for the company that had previously concentrated on the high-end market

Dolphin Software was established in 1989 as a publisher of Norsk Data. It was owned by Telenor from 1994 until 2003 when it was bought out by Finn Haadem, Arne Blystad and four of the company’s executive managers. Verdane purchased Blystad’s shareholding in 2009 and has now built its stake up to 48 per cent.