Trelleborg

"During their time at Electrolux, Carl Bennet and Rune Andersson developed a solid professional and personal bond, discovering that they shared a common mindset and worked well together. When Andersson took on the role of CEO at Trelleborg, Bennet, recognizing Rune’s skills, purchased 1% of Trelleborg’s shares and was at the time Trelleborg’s largest private investor. Over the next few years, this investment yielded a remarkable return of 3,000% (31×), driven by the company’s outstanding performance. This provided Bennet and Andersson with the capital they needed for a historical transaction that would shape Carl Bennet’s history as an industrialist and a long-term investor."

"Rune Andersson, moved on to lead Trelleborg, another prominent Swedish industrial firm."

"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."

"My idea was to try to gain control over the Chest's holdings in Boliden, Ahlsell, and the security company Securitas, and to acquire a large ownership in Trelleborg. We were not so interested in the other parts. Behind the plan lay an analysis and a belief that true long-term value creation must have its basis in Swedish industrial companies. The belief in the future of Swedish industry was an opinion I had the opportunity to express in several newspaper interviews, which provided good headlines in the 1980s environment where much was about real estate and "quick deals.""

"My analyses of the prospective companies gave me a wish list. We wanted an ownership position in the rubber company Trelleborg for its stable operations, and therefore good dividends, to live on, furthermore the undervalued Boliden and Ahlsell to turn them around, and the majority of the security company Securitas for future long-term development. It would also be good to have an option on the skilled textile company Almedahl-Dalsjöfors. We also wanted a debenture to manage the financing. We would release all shares in Herakles, which essentially then became a cash reserve, or as Robert Weil's partner and CEO of Proventus, Gabriel Urwitz, put it: a financial muscle. We would not argue with each other going forward."

"In addition to the "heavy holdings" in Trelleborg, Boliden, and Securitas, Hevea had also acquired a significant ownership in the diversified investment company Almedahl-Dalsjöfors, with textile and other operations in subsidiaries and a stock portfolio. It seemed rather dull, but the CEO, Göran Sundblad, probably thought I should take a closer look at the company. We obtained two board positions and began to investigate. The more we saw, the more enamored we became. Particularly, the textile manager Göran Wirenstam immediately sparked our strong interest. He had spent his entire life working in constant challenging conditions and managed to defy the textile crisis that had virtually wiped out the entire industry in Sweden. Through continuous restructuring, wise investments, and constant adaptation upwards in the value chain, he had managed to retain manufacturing in Sweden. It was an incredible survival ability, and the company had always been profitable."

"In the group surrounding Bo Sandell, there were a number of energetic people of varying quality who pushed for larger power-related deals. There were some significant positions in established large companies such as the rubber company Trelleborg via the investment company Hevea, controlled by Skrinet, the mining company Boliden, and the trading wholesaler Ahlsell. Bo Sandell's colleague Michael Hasselqvist built up the finance company Nyckeln but eventually left Skrinet for other tasks with Anders Wall, the big star of the 1980s and a pioneer in bold corporate deals with his Beijerinvest. Nyckeln later acquired a new ownership group outside of Skrinet and met a grim fate during the financial crisis in Sweden in 1990."