The Helios Agricultural and Natural Products Foundation and Helios Distribusjon AS requested voluntary winding up at Drammen District Court in late April 2008. Negotiations with the bankruptcy estate have now been concluded, and Validus will be taking over the running of Helios.
Continuing the running of a company steeped in tradition
“We’re working to set everything up to allow us to continue operations, secure jobs and safeguard the interests of suppliers and partners,” says Odd Runar Knudsen of Validus. “Helios is a company steeped in tradition, with a very familiar brand name, a huge amount of knowledge of the industry and – not least – a lot of strong brands in its range,” says Knudsen.
A new company: Helios Engros
Validus also owns the company Alternativ Mat AS, and Thomas von Werden, the Managing Director of Alternativ Mat, will be the General Manager for the new Helios Engros. “Over several decades, Helios has been doing a fantastically good job of promoting the sale and production of biodynamic foods, while at the same time distributing high quality products to the health food industry. Our first job was to take into account values, employees, suppliers and business links,” says von Werden.
Carrying on as Life stores
The Helios bankruptcy is also affecting seven wholly owned Helios stores. Validus wants to continue to run five of these as Life stores. “Unfortunately there’s no chance of us continuing to run the last two stores,” says Odd Runar Knudsen. He underlines the fact that when working to secure, continue and develop the running of Helios, Validus wishes to place great emphasis on close cooperation with employees, suppliers and business connections.
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