Lads' gang built up Bonum into a billion-kroner company in just a few years

I have a degree in economics from BI and was supposed to work with shares. Suddenly we were standing there renovating bathrooms, says Thomas B. Bø.

In Friday's edition of Finansavisen, we can read that six childhood friends have spent five years building up Bonum from nothing to become a billion-kroner company. Thomas B. Bø (31) heads the company, which sold property worth 1.1 billion kroner last year.

It was completely by chance for me. I was in job-seeking mode, I have a degree in economics from BI and was supposed to work with shares. Suddenly we were standing there renovating bathrooms, Bø tells Finansavisen.

The job search ended quickly. The year before, three of his childhood friends from Tønsberg had established the company Bonum. The work consisted of bathroom and kitchen rehabilitation, that is, project management of the rehabilitation. The services themselves were hired in.

Now Bø sits as managing director of Bonum, which has grown enormously. A further two mates from the same group of friends are also involved in the administration of Bonum, which has taken up residence in the prestigious row of office villas in the front row behind the Royal Palace. To underline the lads' club phenomenon, they have furnished a lounge where employees are happy to drop by to watch football in the evening.

The office is open 24/7. It costs a bit to rent here, but we can use the garden for barbecuing and things like that. Bonum wants to have a rewarding, motivating workplace. Bonum consists of very sociable people themselves, Bø tells Finansavisen.

He himself owns no shares in Bonum. They are distributed amongst the three original founders, where Espen Tollefsen Lundkvist holds the majority (73 per cent).

You are six mates running Bonum, but only half have shares. Isn't that a bit of an odd way to do it?

Many people have asked that question, but it's an arrangement we all live well with and which is distributed according to the risk that has been taken, Bø tells Finansavisen.

The total realisation value of the properties amounts to around five billion kroner, according to Bonum's own assessments.