Perstorp acquires entire Bifok
Soon the governmental pecuniary support was depleted and an agreement was signed with Pernovo, a subsidiary of the Perstorp company, to partly enter as a shareholder, and to inject fresh capital. Partly was shortly thereafter changed to fully. Pernovo already owned another company, Tecator AB, situated in Höganäs in southern Sweden. Tecator had established a global market network of distributors but its target customer profile was limited to food and feed analysis. The FIA technique was rather “universal” and this was of course a dilemma leading to endless discussions.
Tecator took over the marketing of the subsequently developed FIA instruments such as FIA 5020, Aquatec and FIA 5010. Bifok had now moved to Sollentuna, a town north of Stockholm. Rune left Bifok in 1982 and started to work for Pernovo. Later on Torbjörn Anfält also left Bifok to work for Pernovo. Sigvard Fransson became manager and some other small instrument companies were acquired and merged with Bifok, among others Servochem, a company that had developed a unique beer analyzer (SCABA). We were altogether more than 50 employees at Bifok when an external consultant, hired by Perstorp, proposed a transfer of the Bifok development and the production site in Sollentuna to Höganäs. The proposal was accepted by the Pernovo and Tecator managements (but not by the Bifok management). All employees at Bifok were offered jobs in Höganäs and three accepted. I could, however, keep my employment and stay in Sollentuna to be responsible for Bifok’s immaterial rights. After all, the Swedish patent office was still located in Stockholm and, furthermore, I lived conveniently close to the airport and travelling at that time was in abundance.
