The Olav Thon Foundation

The Olav Thon Foundation was established in December 2013 and at the time of establishment all shares in Olav Thon Gruppen AS were transferred from Olav Thon. The objective of the Olav Thon Foundation is to provide a stable and long-term ownership of Olav Thon Gruppen AS and to donate funds to charitable causes.

COMMUNITY COMMITMENT

Throughout his work, Olav Thon has aimed to create value and establish safe workplaces. Olav Thon personally and the Olav Thon Group have increasingly been active contributors to creating a better society.

LONG TERM OWNERSHIP IN THE OLAV THON GROUP

In its management of the Olav Thon Group, the foundation’s board will further develop the business in line with the values, outlook and ideas Olav Thon has based his business operations on.

The foundation will own all the shares in Olav Thon Gruppen AS, which will be domiciled in Norway. The purchase and management of property shall be the group’s largest business area. A significant part of this activity will take place in Norway. Growth of the business must be striven for. It must be a priority that the group has an unconditionally strong financial position at all times.

SUPPORT FOR CHARITABLE CAUSES

The foundation shall provide support for causes within the mathematical-natural science and medical disciplines. This can be done both by awarding prizes to Norwegian and foreign researchers as well as direct support for research projects.

Furthermore, support shall be provided both for general charitable causes and for the construction of real estate for use by charitable causes in Norway.

In 2020, donations of approximately NOK 3.7 million were approved for 12 charitable causes. For the sixth year in a row, academic prizes and support were awarded in 2020 for outstanding teaching and research in the medical and natural sciences. Prizes and support were awarded in four different categories - international research prizes, national prizes for outstanding teaching, support for Nordic research collaboration in medicine and support for student-active research. A total of approximately NOK 30 million in prizes was awarded to all prize winners.

For more information about award winners, we refer to the Olav Thon Foundation’s website.