Getinge

"Bennet serving as CEO and Andersson as chairman, the duo steered the company toward rapid expansion. In 1993, they decided to take the company public, listing Getinge on the Swedish stock exchange. Continuing along its acquisitive path, Getinge made an important acquisition in 1995 by acquiring LIC Care AB, the Swedish country councils central purchasing entity for medical equipment and services."

"In 1998, Lifco was a modest, mid-single-digit margin company primarily focused on dental distribution and health and self-care products. Despite its potential, the company’s performance lagged, and Carl Bennet, already experienced in successful turnarounds at Getinge, recognized the need for energetic leadership to lead Lifco toward profitability."

"The acquisition was driven by the belief that LIC Care’s products would complement Getinge’s existing portfolio and create synergies. However, these expected synergies did not materialize. Recognizing this, Bennet decided to allow LIC Care to evolve as an independent company. Rather than forcing the business to fit within Getinge’s existing structure, he saw greater potential in distributing it to Getinge’s shareholders."

"Just as Carl Bennet had opportunistically acquired Getinge, he also proved his investor skills and business acumen when he acquired Sorb in 1998. The company had been a public company for just two weeks when Bennet pulled together a buy-out. The acquisition of Sorb Industri came to lay the foundation for Lifco’s diversification beyond the dental industry."

"1989, Bennet, only 38 years old, together with Andersson made history when they acquired Getinge, a struggling medical division within Electrolux."

"One of the key reasons for their achievement was that Getinge, then a small and nearly forgotten part of Electrolux, had not raised its prices in nearly a decade."

"In the group “owners of flesh and blood” are also included others with inherited fortunes, the heavyweight Fredrik Lundberg, as well as a number of medium-sized, more unknown families whose main wealth consists of the family company. To these is added a handful of new active capitalists such as Gustaf Douglas, Melker Schörling, Rune Andersson, and Carl Bennet. They have built their corporate groups themselves and became rich in connection with the historic stock market boom of the 1980s and the later part of the 1990s. Bennet bought Getinge from Electrolux and listed it on the stock exchange, Schörling laid the foundation for his corporate group when, as CEO, he was allowed to buy 20 percent of Securitas before it was listed. Securitas also helped make Douglas rich, and Rune Andersson, as CEO of the listed company Trelleborg, bought shares there. With luck, skill, timing, and some loans, they have built their empires. Each of them constitutes a force in Swedish business, with their opinions and their capital. Carl Bennet has good contacts in politics, mainly with the Social Democrats, and Gustaf Douglas sits on the Moderate Party’s executive committee."