Hans Rausing

"Lisbet has also been active in the Rausing-owned company Ingleby Farms and Forests. Hans Rausing and his family have largely placed their fortune in various foundations. These foundations have assets in securities, real estate, and land areas worldwide. The company Ingleby was started in 1998 with the vision of being the leading agricultural company based on ecologically sustainable agriculture. The company owns large land areas in nine countries across four continents. Moreover, through Ingleby, Lisbet has invested more than 260 million kronor to build the tetrahedron-influenced castle Corrour Lodge in Scotland. The lands around the castle amount to 194 million square meters, making Ingleby one of the largest landowners in Scotland. However, the castle is available for rent to private individuals, which partially reflects the Rausing family’s view on their ownership and the investments they make."

"Hans Rausing eventually developed into a very skilled business leader, but it took time. In later years, many of his former critics within Tetra Pak claimed that he became one of Sweden’s most skilled business leaders of all time. As a person, he is described as very solution-focused and at the same time uninterested in status, power, and power games. He had inherited Ruben’s clear and unsentimental view of people and his rock-hard stubbornness, which was proven among other things when he pushed through the Tetra Brik program. Hans was also endowed with an intuitively acclaimed ability to see what was worth investing in, and he quickly comprehended complex economic contexts."

"“It was unfortunate that I mentioned Lomma to Hans Rausing because he panicked and now he is running around here or calling and tormenting me several times a day. It’s almost like I can feel my old ulcer,” complained Hilding Borstam who didn’t quite understand Hans’ hysterical reaction. In the confused situation that prevailed, Hans came to the conclusion that the company had to launch a massive advertising campaign specifically targeting the households in Lomma. It was the only way to avoid a stinging defeat, he argued. He nagged intensely at Holger and Erik Torudd. The two of them, with the right of age and experience, had much more ice in their stomach, however, and managed to slow him down. At Erik Torudd’s initiative, they instead began to work the market “from the back.” By filling the newspapers with positive letters to the editor and persuading the journalists to do interviews with the city veterinarian of Lund about the hygienic advantages of tetrapacks, they would win the households over to their side. The tactic was that it would be better to knock out bulk cream with clean weapons rather than trying to manipulate consumers through an advertising campaign, which would likely be seen through. If the tactic of getting the press on their side succeeded, it would all look much more elegant and could be used in later marketing. A few weeks later, it became clear: the tetrapack was on its way to eliminating bulk sales. Tetra Pak had managed to turn the opinion and the company management could breathe easily. This time."

"For an outsider, it must seem unlikely that a small tetrahedron of paper could form the basis for such an enormous fortune. It is unlikely, but it has still happened. When repeatedly asked about the size of the Rausing dynasty’s fortune, Gad Rausing said a few years before he passed away: “I have also asked myself that many times. When one talks about money, it is not pennies and cents that are discussed but rather what opportunities for operation that, for example, Tetra Pak has provided.” When Hans Rausing was asked the same question, he answered that he knew exactly to the last penny how large the fortune was and that it was a significant amount, but he saw no reason to disclose it."

"In the work with this book, we have not found any signs that Tetra Pak previously used bribes. Rather, the group, as in the case with the launch in India and the Gandhi family, has actively chosen the path of not paying bribes. An exception was, however, during Ruben’s frustration over Lund Dairy’s resistance to adopting the first half-liter tetra pack for milk in 1954. In his desperation, Ruben suggested that they should bribe the managing director Hilding Borstam to adopt the system, but both Hans Rausing and Erik Torudd dissuaded Ruben and made him reconsider."

"According to sources, Hans Rausing was happy about his new role after selling his share of ownership. He had proven that he was an industrialist, which had been an important pursuit for him. Money and fame, however, had not been of much importance to him. “Hans never wanted to go down in history as the world’s richest man,” stated a person close to him. He could finally retire to his estate Wadhurst Park in Sussex, England, and use his fortune to do things that truly interested him. One such area was to finance and contribute with expertise and networks to develop companies in Eastern Europe and Russia."

"To return to Hans Rausing and his involvement in the packaging company Ecolean. In an interview with DN in 2006, he expressed why he thought the company was important: “Nothing new has happened in this industry for 50 years. Tetra Pak broke the conventions when the disposable paper package took over from glass bottles. Today, Ecolean is the spearhead in the next revolt against convention.” In the same interview, he mentioned that, despite being over 80 years old, he was out in stores at least every fortnight to keep up with trends of new packages."

"For the company’s part, Hans Rausing’s sale was a dangerous step. When the figurehead, who had been there for more than 40 years, completely disappeared from the business, it sent a signal that could be interpreted as him no longer believing in the company. Internally, such an action could have created confusion and uncertainty. Externally, it may have contributed to casting doubt about the company’s future and spreading uncertainty among customers. And it all depends on the company always being family-owned. In a typical publicly traded company, it is not nearly as dangerous when, for example, the CEO or chairman of the board resigns, since the focus there has not been concentrated to the same extent on one or a few individuals. At the same time, an external sale of Tetra Laval would most likely have meant that it would have been difficult to keep the group together and continue with the very long-term strategy that the Rausing family had driven. In the case of Tetra Laval, it has become such that it is almost impossible to tell where the boundary between the Rausing family and the company lies. Though it is not the whole truth, the two appear almost synonymous to employees and the public."

"Meanwhile, Jörn Rausing has worked operationally in the conglomerate and has been responsible for mergers and acquisitions since 1991. This appears to have been a successful arrangement as Jörn, in his operational role, has been able to build up international relations, gain extensive oversight, and acquire comprehensive knowledge about market events and industries related to their operations for a long time. In this sense, Jörn has had the same opportunities as Hans Rausing had, to gradually grow into the ownership role. This expertise has not only strengthened the influence of the owning family in the conglomerate but has also been an asset to the entire board. At the same time, the setup with an operational role for Jörn has been a balancing act to avoid disturbing the various management teams’ operations. Although there was high turnover of CEOs from the beginning of the 1990s until 2006, Jörn seems to have managed this balancing act."

"Hans Rausing passed away on August 30, 2019, at the age of 93. Chairman of Ecolean, Arne Karlsson, described Hans’s leadership style with the words: “He belonged to the type of leaders who are so competent that they do not need to be pretentious.”"