It became known in November that former ski jumper and news profile Anders Jacobsen has sued the Swedish-owned company Just Padel Group (JPG). The reason for the dispute is the sale of the padel centre. Jacobsen owned and ran the center together with JPG in Hønefoss until autumn 2021. At that time, JPG was owned by football profiles Jesper Mathisen (36) and Ole Martin Årst (49), as well as two businessmen. Mathisen is today known as a football expert on TV 2. Football profile Jesper Mathisen is among those who will testify in the case in Agder District Court in March. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB When the football profiles and JPG negotiated an agreement to sell the padel group to Swedish We Are Padel, Jacobsen’s shares were also to be included in the sale. The prerequisite for buying the shares in JPG was that the Swedes also got the shares of local owners of padel centers in the purchase. Jacobsen claims, however, that he received significantly less in payment for his 66 per cent stake in the Hønefoss center than JPG received for his 34 per cent stake. – I was led astray by Mathisen and the other owners of JPG. I thought they were my friends, but I could be so wrong, says Jacobsen to news. He sold the shares in the padel center for NOK 3.93 million, but is now suing JPG to get the 3.1 million he believes the company owes him for the shares. – Strongly disagree Neither Mathisen nor Årst is part of Jacobsen’s lawsuit, but will testify in the Agder district court in March. After repeated attempts, news has not succeeded in getting in touch with Jesper Mathisen. Mathisen rejected the claims from Jacobsen on behalf of the four former owners when the lawsuit was first mentioned in November. – We strongly disagree with what Anders Jacobsen claims, and look forward to testifying in the case between Just Padel Group and Jacobsen in March, Mathisen told VG. news has been in contact with Ole Martin Årst and the two other businessmen, who do not wish to comment on the matter. – No comment, says Årst to news. news has been in contact with Ole Martin Årst and the two other businessmen, who do not wish to comment on the matter. Photo: Svein Ove Ekornesvaag / Scanpix Keep 38.5 million even news has been given access to the final submissions of the parties in the case. The final submissions show that the purchase agreement that the Swedes entered into with JPG was priced at NOK 84 million. The purchase price included both JPG’s and local owners’ shares in padel centres. The day before the sales contract with the Swedes was signed, Jacobsen claims that JPG changed the agreement so that 38.5 million of the purchase price would go directly to Mathisen, Årst and the two businessmen who owned JPG. The owners of the padel centers were not informed of this distribution of the sales price. Jacobsen disagrees that the parent company of JPG contains values in the millions that can be kept apart from the purchase price. According to the ski jumper, it is the tracks that created the values in the company. – We only learned that the selling price was NOK 45.5 million. Mathisen and the others kept the rest for themselves for the brand name and what they referred to as “structural capital”, as well as signed non-operating lines. That meant that they got paid far more for 34 percent of my pitches than I got for my 66 percent, says Jacobsen. Rejects the claim Lawyer Yngve Andersen from Wigemyr represents JPG in the dispute with Anders Jacobsen. He writes to news that he does not want to prosecute the case in the media. In his final submission, he denies that Jacobsen is entitled to more remuneration for the shares. He writes that Jacobsen “on the contrary” has received a “very high” sale sum for his shareholding in the Hønefoss company. – The company should be very satisfied that the shares were sold while the padel market was still at its peak in Norway, writes Andersen. Furthermore, the lawyer argues that there are natural reasons why Mathisen, Årst and the two businessmen should have more of the purchase price. – That the sellers of the shares in JPG received a higher sale sum is also completely natural when you look at the fact that there were considerably greater values and potentials in JPG; where there were several subsidiaries and where JPG had control over 42 operational padel courts, writes Andersen. Withheld information According to the final submission, Jacobsen was asked to sign a new shareholder agreement with a so-called additional sales obligation, without him being informed that the owners of JPG had in reality completed negotiations on the same day with the Swedes regarding the sale of the padel group. When the sale became known a short time later, Jacobsen tried to gain insight into the entire purchase agreement, but was told by JPG that the Swedes had rejected it. Now e-mails that the ski jumper will present in court show that it was, on the other hand, the owners of JPG themselves who had asked the Swedes for full secrecy. – I was told that I had an obligation to sell more and had no choice but to sell my shares, Jacobsen says to news and adds: – I feel deceived by what I thought were my friends, and that they have treated me badly. For me, this is more about principles and justice than it is about money, says Jacobsen. Fighting to stop access to evidence It has not been easy to find out what happened before the sale, Jacobsen acknowledges. Already in January, the Agder district court had to deal with which evidence Jacobsen should have access to before the main hearing, which starts on 12 March. The district court concluded on 1 February that JPG is obliged to give Jacobsen access to most of the evidence that he has requested. However, JPG has appealed this decision to the Agder Court of Appeal. – When Anders Jacobsen has demanded access to evidence from JPG, it is of course because he is of the opinion that JPG is in charge of the evidence to be presented to the court. We note that the district court has essentially upheld Jacobsen, but that JPG has chosen to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal, says Jacobsen’s legal representative Jan Magne Isaksen. – Appeared as trickery The lawsuit from Jacobsen is not the first conflict that Jesper Mathisen and Ole Martin Årst have experienced in the wake of the sale of JPG. The Bergen owners of Vestland Padel refused to sell their shares to JPG as part of the agreement with the Swedes, and were therefore sued by the company. The parties settled the matter and the purchase process was stopped. – We realized that there was a lot that was not right. It appeared to be pure trickery, says chairman Ketil Nystad to news about the process he and the other owners were involved in. He has no doubt that Jacobsen has been subjected to injustice. – Unfortunately, I think that when it comes to money, some people become so greedy that they lose all reason, says Nystad and adds: – The matter is as simple as that they should have offered all the partners the same price, instead of managing as they did. They started working with us three weeks before they sold to the Swedes. It was completely “galimatias”, says Nystad. He tells news that he is looking forward to testifying for Jacobsen in March, even though he is still a partner with JPG at two centers in Bergen. For the record: Anders Jacobsen has previously been associated with news as a jumping expert. Editorial assessments are made independently of that.
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– I was led astray – news Vestland
