Generational Transfer as Strategic Design, Not Inheritance

“The founder is in his 70s, and the eldest daughter, Sofia Schörling Högberg, has not yet turned forty. The process has been ongoing for a few years, but it was brought to the forefront in October 2016 when Melker Schörling unexpectedly announced he would be ending all his assignments as chairman in conjunction with the general meetings. He has been affected by gradually deteriorating health. Carl-Henric Svanberg was elected in May 2017 as a new board member of MSAB. Schörling and Svanberg have been colleagues and friends for a long time. Svanberg has previously served on the MSAB board and is also a shareholder in the investment company. Svanberg has extensive experience in Swedish industry, including as CEO of Assa Abloy and Ericsson, and as chairman of BP and AB Volvo. Mikael Ekdahl has been appointed chairman of Melker Schörling AB after many years as vice chairman. It cannot be easy to take over after a masterful investor who is called a magician in terms of creating growth and value. Melker Schörling remains on the board as a member.”

“During Frederik and Eva Paulsen’s time with the company, the business was established. Ferring developed, produced, and sold pharmaceuticals independently. Foreign expansion had begun, partly because Frederik Paulsen wanted to protect the family business from the Swedish state. The heavy tax burden and the ongoing discussion about nationalizing the pharmaceutical industry risked destroying everything the Paulsen family had built up. Frederik Paulsen was active in Ferring for nearly three decades, although he began to reduce his involvement with the company after his 60th birthday in 1969. During the 1970s, he gradually handed over responsibility to the then management. When Frederik Paulsen Jr joined Ferring in 1976, it opened the door for a possible generational shift, but from the start, it was not certain that it would be the youngest of six siblings who would take over Ferring. Neither for Frederik Paulsen Senior nor Junior. The founder was skeptical, and the son was reluctant. He expressed this in an interview with Veckans Affärer in 2013: “In the late 1960s when I was 17, my father asked me what I thought he should do with the company in the future. Then I replied: Give it to the employees. It was in the spirit of the times. I wasn’t at all interested in taking over then.””