What we do is a continuation of what the Wallenberg family has been doing ever since André Oscar Wallenberg founded Stockholm’s Enskilda Bank in Sweden in 1856 – actively supporting the development of companies globally.
The Wallenberg sphere today centers around ten non-profit foundations – the Wallenberg Foundations – and two industrial holding companies – Investor AB and FAM – that hold significant ownership interest in some of Scandinavia’s largest and most important blue chip corporations, such as ABB, AstraZeneca, Atlas Copco, Electrolux, Ericsson, Husqvarna, Saab AB, SAS, SEB, SKF, Sobi, Stora Enso and Wärtsilä as well as US based Nasdaq.
Patricia Industries is responsible for the wholly-owned subsidiaries of Investor AB. Since 2006, the focus on wholly-owned companies has increased significantly. Patricia Industries was established in 2015 to accelerate and increase the commitment to that effort. The focus is to own Nordic and North American companies; the Nordics is our home market and we have been active in North America for decades.
Our fundamental belief is that developing companies, whether by penetrating new markets or investing in new products or services, takes time. Therefore, we do not want to be limited by a timeframe, and consequently, our ownership horizon is forever. Exits is not a part of our strategy – we plan to keep our companies forever. That said, we also need to be relentless in managing near-term performance – the long-term consists of many short-terms.
Our companies face different challenges. Accordingly, our working model is based on treating each company individually and independently. We base our ownership philosophy on the Swedish model for corporate governance. This means that, as owners, we focus on appointing the right board for each company.
Our boards are typically composed of independent directors from our industrial network, led by a non-executive chairperson. As owners, we rely on the boards and management to execute on our longer-term strategic ambitions.
Ownership
Patricia Industries is a part of Investor AB, Northern Europe’s largest industrial holding company, which is publically listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. The Wallenberg foundations are the main owners of Investor AB, controlling 50 percent of the votes.