Pareto Group is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 that owns several financial brokers, including 75 % of Pareto Securities and the shipbroker Bassøe. In 2008 Pareto will start its own bank, Pareto Bank. In 2006 it had 5.1 % of the trade on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

. The company is owned by Svein Støle

Svein Støle

Svein Støle is a Norwegian businessperson and broker. After growing up in Mandal, he was educated in law and business administration. He worked for a period as a journalist for Kapital before in 1992 buying a large portion of Pareto Group, where he holds a 80.1% ownership...

 (80.1 %), Anders Endreson (12.8 %) and Erik Bartnes

Erik Bartnes

Erik Bartnes is a Norwegian farmer and politician for the Centre Party.He is a son of Inge Einarsen Bartnes and father of Inge Bartnes and Lars Erik Bartnes. He is from Beitstad in Steinkjer. He has worked in the Norwegian Agrarian Association and been mayor of Steinkjer. Following the 2003 county...

 (6.4 %).

History

The company was founded in 1986 by Oslobanken, and bought by Svein Støle and some other investors in 1992 for about NOK

Norwegian krone

The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...

50 million. During Støles management the company has developed itself to be one of the most important broker houses for the offshore industry. Pareto Securities' Corporate Finance team is number one in the Norwegian market for IPOs, measured both by number of deals and by value of the deals. In addition, the firm is distinguished in both equity and high-yield trading.