Pohjolan Design-Talo becomes DEN
Finland’s leading manufacturer of turnkey single-family homes Pohjolan Design-Talo Oy has now been officially renamed DEN Finland Oy, and the entire group is now DEN Group Oy, in short DEN. The reasons behind the name change are the group’s strategy revamp, the resulting strong growth of the business, as well as the expansion beyond traditional house manufacturing.
DEN acquired the business operations of the Alajärvi-based log house manufacturer Finnlamelli Oy in March 2017. In May 2017, Talliosake, a provider of storage, work, and leisure space solutions, was acquired by DEN. Both Finnlamelli and Talliosake continued to operate as separate brands, as did also the other brands Design-Talo and Ainoakoti.
In December 2017, further acquisitions followed, and DEN announced it was acquiring PohjanTeko and PohjanGeo that provide nationwide earthworks construction and planning services.
DEN CEO Jaakko Taivalkoski explains how the company has grown and matured to a new phase, of which the name change is an integral part. In the company’s own terminology, DEN refers to the nest, or home base where the personnel work, and from where the various brands are launched into the market. Central to the strategy and business of DEN is the ability to take into account and fulfill customers’ needs, offering increasingly higher quality and a broader range of services.
Taivalkoski explains that the name DEN comes from the English language, where it has several relevant meanings in British and American English when used within the DEN group, meaning home base, “playroom”, or “your very own space.”
– Several new companies joined the group, and we extended our service offering to serve customer segments also beyond our traditional industry. In house building, our offering expanded remarkably. From the customers’ perspective, the situation has improved significantly, since DEN is now able to serve them by offering an extensive range of products and services from purchasing your new home or holiday home to various space-related solutions. We doubled the number of our employees during the year, and, according to preliminary figures, our turnover also nearly doubled (2016 71.3 MEUR). Our goal is to ensure we have the best possible conditions to continue to develop our group in such a way that it will be an inclusive work community, and the best one in our industry. We respect both our traditional brands which have been created to best serve our customer segments, for example, Design-Talo, where our development began, as well as the new brands, Taivalkoski lists factors behind the name change.
The company will be reporting its new strategy and brand choices as well as its business development in greater detail during the spring of 2018.
Additional information
DEN Group Oy
Jaakko Taivalkoski, CEO
+358 50 376 7426
DEN Group Oy is a leading manufacturer of turnkey single-family homes and modifiable and functional spaces, as well as a service provider. The group employed approximately 480 persons at the beginning of 2018. Funds managed by private equity firm CapMan are the main owners of DEN. In addition, Finnish government-owned investment company Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) and the personnel of DEN are significant shareholders. DEN Group consists of Design-Talo; log manufacturer Finnlamelli; Talliosake, a provider of multifunctional premises for work and hobby; earthworks service provider PohjanTeko; PohjanGeo which specializes in the planning of earth and building construction and foundation engineering; Ainoakoti brand, owned by DEN and K-Rauta together.