GAC Acquires JNN

The GAC Group has strengthened its Baltic Sea region coverage with the amicable acquisition of leading Finnish ship agent, John Nurminen Navis Oy.

JNN is the leading ship agency in Finland and a subsidiary of the John Nurminen Group, handling annually up to 3,000 ship calls at all major Finnish commercial seaports, directly through its own offices, in Helsinki (head office), Porvoo, Kotka, Turku, Naantali and Rauma and the company's comprehensive network of sub-agencies.

Under the agreement signed on 31 August 2010 by Lars Safverstrom, GAC Group President, and Jan Lonnblad, Managing Director of John Nurminen Oy, the company is now rebranded as GAC- Nurminen Navis Oy.

Erland Ebbersten, GAC Group Vice President - Europe, Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Sea, and Africa, says JNN's standing in the local market and strong client-base of major international and domestic shipping and chartering principals made it an ideal candidate for acquisition to help drive GAC's development strategy in the Baltic Sea region.

John Nurminen Oy was established in Rauma in 1886 and its diverse business interests span currently from fine art logistics services, nautical charts sales, property development, ship agency services in Finland, and cleantech venture capital investing. Its ship agency arm JNN is one of the top three ship agencies in Finland in terms of market share.

GAC-Nurminen Navis Oy's management team consists of Svante Eriksson (Managing Director), Jyrki Lehti (Regional Manager, West Coast operations) and Ilkka Holmroos (Regional Manager, East Coast operations).

The addition of Finland to the GAC network boosts the Group's growing presence also in the Nordic region, which has steadily grown since its majority stake acquisition of Ole R Olsen in Norway in 2007, followed by an alliance formed with Pole Position AS in Spitsbergen last year and the opening of new offices in Bergen and Sandnessjoen during 2010.

That strong presence in the region enables GAC to meet a growing range of client needs, particularly those in the oil and gas sector where the search for new sources is continuing to progress further north.