He will remain Group CEO of Elkem, and will become Chairman of the Board of Directors of both Borregaard and Sapa. Kåre Wetterberg will continue as Managing Director of Sapa, while Per Sørlie will continue as Managing Director of Borregaard. Ole Enger will be a member of the Group management.

 

The Speciality Materials area will have operating revenues of around NOK 27 billion and about 14,000 employees. Acting Group President and CEO Dag J. Opedal and Ole Enger are currently drawing up plans to coordinate Orkla's and Elkem's operations.

 

A strategic process will be initiated at Orkla to assess long-term growth and development alternatives for the Speciality Materials business area. The results of this process are expected to be presented to the Board of Directors of the Orkla Group in the first half of 2006.