Brief history

History of The Group

1898 - The Norwegian National Creditreform is founded
1911 - Managing director and founder Mr. Eynar Lindorff steps down (1898-1911)
A branch office is established in Bergen The Vestenfjeldske Creditreform Association
1913 - A branch office is established in Trondheim The Nordenfjeldske Creditreform Association
1928 - The branch office in Bergen opens another branch office in Stavanger
1929 - The Association purchases the first switchboard
1936 - The branch office in Trondheim opens another branch office in Bodø
1965 - Mr. Leif Juel Moltke-Hansen resigns as managing director (1911-1965)
1966 - Contant is founded in Finland
1978 - The first IT-installation
1986 - The Norwgian National Creditreform Association changes name to Creditreform Norge AS. The company merges with Essar Holding AS
1988 - Essar Holding AS divests Creditreform Norge AS to Elcon Finans AS, a part of Forenede group. Essar Holding AS holds on to the credit information department and renames it Creditinform AS
1989 - Creditreform Norge AS is organised in three regions: Eastern region (Kredittsystemer AS in Hamar, Trondheim, Ålesund) , Western region (Bergen, Haugesund, Stavanger) and Southern region (Oslo, Drammen and Inkasso Consult in Sandefjord)
1992 - Gjensidige takes over the Forenede Group.
1993 - All the regions and branch offices are combined to form Creditreform Norge AS; Prokura AS, Nord-Inkasso AS, Bokreditt Kjøpekort Inkasso AS, Collector AS.
1995 - Creditreform Norge AS acquires Inkassopartner AS
1997 - Creditreform Norge AS handles 400.000 recovery cases. Creditsystemer Denmark established
1998 - Creditreform Norge AS acquires Kredithandterarna AB in Sweden
1999 - Creditreform Norge AS acquires Lokal Data AS (51%, CreditSafe (50%) and Infor Norge AS, the latter to constitute the basis for Lindorff Decision.
2000 - Lindorff Holding is established. Lindorff Holding acquires Kredittstyring Holding AS
2003 - Gjensidige NOR Forsikring divests Lindorff Holding to the private equity fund Altor, but remains a minority shareholder. Lindorff Group AB is established with Lindorff Holding and the Finnish company Contant OY. Contant Oy has branch offices in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
2004 - Lindorff Group AB aquires Adviso and renames it Lindorff Accounting
2005 - Mr. Olav Fjell takes over as CEO of Lindorff Group AB.
2007 - Lindorff Group acquires Transfair Holding B.V. - a leading debt collection and credit information company in the Netherlands. Olav Fjell resigns as CEO and becomes a member of the Lindorff Board of Directors. 1st September Swiss citizen Urs Baumann takes over as CEO. In December Lindorff acquires the Cologne-based family owned Dausend Unternehmensgruppe in Germany.
2008 - Lindorff starts operations in Russia with it´s first office in Moscow. Investor AB aquires 50 % of Lindorff and becomes major owner together with Altor (50 %).