Sverker Martin-Löf is stepping down as chairman of Industrivärden. Photo: TT
The world of
Swedish business was shaken on Thursday when a scandal over the use of private
jets triggered one of the biggest corporate scandals
in the country’s recent history.
Industivarden - the
owner of controlling stakes in companies such as truck
maker Volvo, telecom equipment maker Ericsson , engineering firm Sandvik,
construction firm Skanska. as well as Sweden’s biggest bank Handelsbanken
- and Industrivärden holding will both get new chairmen and chief executives
under the shake-up.
The jet scandal
erupted after it emerged that wives and children accompanied directors on
business trips abroad as well as to a hunting lodge owned by SCA, a paper and
forestry company in which Industrivärden owns a large stake.
Svenska
Dagbladet, the newspaper which broke the story, reported that
SCA used the company’s private jets to transport top managers on private trips
to hunting lodges in northern Sweden, the Olympic Games in London and to a
soccer championship in Kiev—sometimes with wives, children, grandchildren and
even dogs in tow. One
unnamed person even sent a jet from the north of Sweden to Stockholm just to
pick up his wallet, which he had forgotten.
The affair has
also shaken faith in the much-admired Swedish model of active ownership under
which shareholders nominate board directors and help guide companies’
strategies.
Sverker
Martin-Löf, the chairman of Industrivärden and SCA, is the big loser of the
scandal since he will resign from all his board posts, including as
vice-chairman of Handelsbanken and Ericsson and a director of Skanska.
He will be
replaced as chairman of Industrivärden by Anders Nyrén, currently the holding
company’s chief executive as well as the chairman of Handelsbanken.
Mr Nyrén in
turn will be replaced at Handelsbanken by Pär Boman, the bank’s well-respected
chief executive who will also become chairman of SCA.
Mr Boman, who led Handelsbanken successfully
through the financial crisis to become one of the European banks with the
highest capital ratio, will lead the clean up at SCA, and will change its
company policy to ban family members from using private jets.
