KNI A/S

The Royal Greenland Trading Department (Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel, KGH) was founded in 1774 as a Dano-Norwegian state enterprise charged with administering the Danish settlements and trade in Greenland. In the early 20th century, most of its administrative functions were lost to the Danish Ministry of the Interior and the company's monopoly was finally ended in 1950. Following the establishment of the Home Rule Government in 1979, control of KGH was ceded in 1986[4][5] and the company was reorganized as Kalaallit Niuerfiat.[6] This was then reorganized into the KNI conglomerate in 1992.[7]

The conglomerate's fishing operations were spun off as Royal Greenland A/S in 1990 and its shipping operations as Royal Arctic Line A/S in 1992. On January 1, 1993, KNI was restructured into a holding company KNI-mik Piginnittut and two subsidiaries, KNI Pisiffik and KNI Pilersuisoq, both including aspects of the parent company's retail division.[8] KNI Pisiffik was based in Greenland's larger towns and was an experiment in running the stores without government subsidy; KNI Pilersuisoq was located in the more distant and less populous towns and was understood to require public underwriting. Pisiffik A/S was then spun off in 2001[9][10] and the competition between the two chains blossomed into a price war after KNI opened a discount Pilersuisoq in Aasiaat in 2008,[11][12] even though both companies were state-owned at the time (A majority stake in Pisiffik has since been sold to Dagrofa, a Danish food concern).

A gas station in Ilulissat.

The company wholly owns two subsidiary companies – Neqi A/S and KNI Ejendomme A/S – and has a strong majority stake (82.5%) in a third – Akia Sisimiut A/S.