Nils Wilhelm Erik Penser (born August 22, 1942) is a Swedish financier and businessman. Penser was born in

Eslöv Eslöv (;) is a town and the seat of Eslöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 19,598 inhabitants as of 2018. Eslöv is part of the Öresund Region, and the Malmö Metropolitan Area. History According to a map from 1717, Eslöv village ...

, Sweden, the son of Wilhelm Penser, a lawyer, and Elisabeth (née Herrmann). After having studied law at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

, Erik Penser commenced a career as a stockbroker at ''Bankirfirman Langenskiöld'', which later became

Carnegie Investment Bank Carnegie Investment Bank AB is a Sweden, Swedish financial services group with activities in Security (finance), securities brokerage, investment banking and private banking. Founded in 1803, Carnegie is headquartered in Stockholm with offices a ...

. Together with

Tomas Fischer Tomas Jörgen Fischer (1 December 1940 – 15 August 2022) was a Swedish book publisher and businessman. He was born in Härnösand, and later grew up in Sundsvall. He began to work with financier Erik Penser. With Penser, they both had worked ...

he worked intensively to develop the firm's business, laying the foundation for his private wealth. Penser's strategy was risky; he bought shares, used them as collateral and borrowed even more money to leverage his holdings. Eventually he gained the controlling interest of several large companies on the

Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange (), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As of March 2021, a total ...

. During the 1980s Penser was one of Sweden's most influential businessmen. Through his holding company,

Yggdrasil Yggdrasil () is an immense and central sacred tree in Norse cosmology. Around it exists all else, including the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'' compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and in t ...

, he controlled both Nobel Industrier and Finans AB Gamlestaden. His massive

financial leverage In finance, leverage, also known as gearing, is any technique involving borrowing funds to buy an investment. Financial leverage is named after a lever in physics, which amplifies a small input force into a greater output force. Financial leverag ...

and the harsh business environment experienced during the Swedish banking crisis in 1990–1994 forced Penser to cease control of his holdings, which were sold to Nordbanken (which became

Nordea Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in northern Europe with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The Nordic countries are considered ...

) for the symbolic sum of SEK 1 each. At a press conference

Björn Wahlström Bjorn, Bjorne (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian male given name, or ...

, the chairman of Nordbanken, said that Erik Penser was 'destitute and finished as a businessman'. The transaction resulted in a prolonged legal dispute between Penser and Nordbanken. In 1992 Penser regained control of Yggdrasil, the consideration was once again SEK 1. The vice Chairman of Nordbanken, Jacob Palmstierna, admitted that Penser had been under extreme pressure when he was forced to sign the agreement with Nordbanken. Since then Penser has rebuilt an estimated net worth of SEK 1 billion, with interests in both Sweden and abroad. In Sweden, his main holdings includes Erik Penser Bankaktiebolag, with activities in corporate finance, trading, research and private wealth management and Pensum, an insurance and pension advisory firm. Erik Penser resides, since 1976, in

Compton Beauchamp Compton Beauchamp is a hamlet and civil parish southeast of Shrivenham in the Vale of White Horse, England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's populat ...

, England. Erik Penser is known as a distinguished collector, collecting – amongst many objects – old share certificates, film posters, magazines and bank notes.

References

External links

Erik Penser Bankaktiebolag
investment banking 1942 births Living people Swedish businesspeople Swedish billionaires Stockbrokers People from Eslöv Municipality {{Sweden-business-bio-stub