Netsolutions and Framtidsfabriken Monday announced their plans to merge into
one new Internet company.
The new company will have combined sales of 144 million kronor
(US$18 million) in 1998 and a crew of 270 people.
The company is
expected to trade in Stockholm Stock Exchange this year.
The merger was forced by customers and by multinational companies, who
require partners to assist on several markets. To compete, the leading
companies merged to handle bigger accounts.
The new company will be named Framtidsfabriken Netsolution. Jonas
Birgersson, co-founder and CEO of Framtidsfabriken, was appointed CEO.
“The systems we are building are getting bigger and more business critical,
which raises the list of demands on us as supplier. Companies that are too
small cannot offer sufficient or cost-effective solutions,” said Jonas
Birgersson.
Netsolutions brings to the merger its well-known network of partners from
the other Scandinavian countries. Named Nordic NetPartners, this alliance
is formed between the biggest Internet service companies in each country: New Media Science in Norway, Networkers in Denmark and Satama Interactive in Finland.
“With the IPO later this year, we can make an international expansion. It
is also very important to have a strong board of directors, ” says Johan
Wall, the founder and CEO of Netsolutions and the COO of the new company.
Board members include chairman Carl Wilhelm Ros, first vice president at Ericsson, Bertil Villard (Vinge,
Sweden), Paul Saffo (Future, USA), Sven Skarendahl (Intermec Technologies,
USA) Ken Ceder (co-founder of Framtidsfabriken), Johan Wall (CEO of
Netsolutions) and Jonas Birgersson (CEO of Framtidsfabriken).
Icon Medialab and Spray Razorfish are two of the more well-known competitors in
the market.
