Swedish investment fund invests in Norwegian taco business

The Swedish investment fund MVI buys 50.1 per cent of Los Tacos, a Norwegian taco shop started in Bergen. EIK Gruppen, which owns 37.5 per cent of the shares after the transaction, believes the new owners will help the company grow significantly in the future.

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We are very pleased to have an established player like MVI on the ownership side. They add both competence and security to a concept that we have seen works and that we have big growth plans for, says CEO Erlend Karlseng of EIK Group.

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Los Tacos currently consists of five restaurants in five cities in Norway, and will open its sixth restaurant in Drammen this month. Majority shareholder Simon Simonnæs sells 50.1 percent of the shares in the company to MVI Fund I. Stefan Karlsson, who is a partner in MVI, has great faith in the future of the company.

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We follow the restaurant industry in Norway closely and notice that Norwegians are eating out more and more often. Los Tacos has a good concept and a great potential for development that we look forward to participating in, says Karlsso

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Will double the number of restaurants in 2019

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Los Tacos was established in Bergen in 2012 by American Brian Kovary, who later brought in Bergen-based investor and Asian Fusion founder SUMO. Kovary was surprised by the Norwegians' preference for "Friday tacos" and thought the Norwegian market was overripe for a restaurant concept similar to Chipotle in the US. Nå ønsker selskapet å doble antall restauranter i 2019.

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So far this year, we are on track to double both turnover and operating profit compared to last year, giving us the motivation and capacity to grow further. If things go according to plan, we will double to twelve restaurants in the course of 2019, says Karlseng.

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In June 2017, EIK Gruppen entered the ownership of the taco business, snapping several years of negative results. In 2017, Los Tacos ended the year with a profit of DKK 2.7 million, and the forecasts for 2018 show that the company is on track to achieve a profit of over DKK 5 million this year.

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The cooperation with EIK has been crucial for the smooth operation of the company today, and I would like to stress that this is not the end, but the beginning of our further cooperation. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do with MVI in the future, says Simon Simonnæ.

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