Sandvik

"But in the spring of 1997, I didn’t even have a real clear idea of what Korsnäs was. I hadn’t driven through the forests and felt the mesmerizing, stunning power of mile after mile of well-groomed company forest. I didn’t know that Korsnäs borders Sandvik, so the forest and steel Kinnevik, which Jan Stenbeck inherited from his father Hugo and gained control over in a fight with his sisters, was a real small kingdom, a principality, also geographically."

"The foundation of the old Ratos was laid by a merchant in Dalarna. Per-Olof Söderberg was a blacksmith master at Garpenberg works. Garpenberg had connections to Högbo works in Gävle, which early on worked to produce high-quality steel, so-called Bessemer steel. In Gävle, the seed was sown for what would become Sandvik, one of the most successful steel companies in the world."

"The partnership was in effect for about four years. It became economically very successful, but a complete failure in all other respects. We co-owned an investment company that came to own primarily hotel properties in Stockholm: Park Hotel, Sheraton, and Anglais, with heavy borrowing. The once skilled CFO at Sandvik, Carl-Eric Björkegren, who had a less successful career as a real estate speculator in the 1980s, wanted to be involved and have an option to sell his shares within a year. The money was to be delivered in ICA bags, as stated in the draft agreement. Nothing came of it."