Christer Dahlström

"They needed an advisor but were in no hurry. It took Nordgren over a year to decide which suitor to choose. In the end, it was Christer Dahlström and Skandia Investment who, through newly issued shares, were able to buy 15 percent of the company for 10 million kronor. At that time, Skandia Investment made all purchases with their own money, no borrowed funds. Therefore, they only entered as minority owners, so that the money would suffice for several different businesses. Nefab, which had sales of 120 million when Skandia bought in, then experienced rapid growth—they started production in China, South America, Malaysia. In 1996, the company was listed on the stock exchange, with sales by then of 560 million. The family remained as major owners. Thus, they shared in the increased value of the company as it grew, while maintaining control. In 2007, Nordgren, together with another private equity firm, Nordic Capital, bought the company off the stock exchange again. The family felt that Nefab was undervalued, and Nordic, as one of Sweden’s largest private equity firms, had the resources to take the company to the next growth phase. By then, the value had risen to 2.7 billion. Nordgren sold some shares again, but kept 40 percent of the company. Nordic had to settle for buying 60 percent; they would have preferred a larger majority, but had to give in. Ingmarie and Jockum Nordgren-Pihl, who now live in Luxembourg, were not willing to negotiate."

"The change in strategy at Skandia in 1998 gave Christer Dahlström and his three colleagues the opportunity to buy the business, which they named Priveq (a play on “private equity,” which is the English equivalent of risk capital firms). Skandia invested 600 million in the first fund, and Norwegian Orkla, ICA, Handelsbanken Liv and the Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund each invested 100 million. With a billion in their pockets, they moved out from Skandia on Sveavägen to their own office, hired four people and got started."

"The deal was to be completed no later than Thursday, April 15. On Wednesday, the Finnish lawyers called and said: “You can’t use mezzanine loans; there is no legal wording for them in Finland.” Mezzanine loans, which constituted 15 percent of the purchase price, have lower priority in bankruptcies than regular bank loans and therefore have higher interest rates. But they did not exist in Finland and were therefore not approved as part of the financing. — Suddenly, 50 million were missing, so we started calling all the investors and asked if they could consider putting in a bit more, but we only managed to raise 40 million. Finally, I called Christer Dahlström at Skandia Investment, who had invested with us before, and asked if he could take the last 10 million. He said no, and I was about to hang up, but before I could do so, he said in the next breath: “I’ll take 20.”"

"In retrospect, it has become important to determine who was first. Who wrote the first chapter in the unlikely story that began in Sweden during the second half of the 1980s? One of the first to see the potential in trading unlisted companies was Skandia’s then CFO Björn Hall, when he founded Skandia Investment – but the one who handled the company acquisitions was Christer Dahlström. The first to start his own business and make acquisitions according to the American model was Mikael Ahlström. But Björn Savén started the first fund. One of Nordic Capital’s founders, Robert Andreen, is annoyed at Hall for taking credit for starting Nordic, when Andreen claims that Skandia was just a part-owner in the beginning. Hall then responds with a smile: “But you, who hired whom?”"

"One of the first private equity firms, Priveq’s founder Christer Dahlström, has an attitude toward debt that is similar to Hasse’s. Dahlström has never worked with really high leverage and is doubtful about it. – It is unfortunate for an acquired company to be sitting with large debts to the owners. There is also a risk that the CEO focuses too much on short-term cash flow and too little on long-term investments. But it yields lower returns with lower leverage, he says."