Ratos AB (

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

for Ragnar and Torsten Söderberg) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

company founded in 1934 and still controlled by the Söderberg family. Ratos is listed 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 ...

History

The Söderberg brothers established Ratos in the 1933, as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

for the family's growing enterprises. At the time the family was owners of Söderberg & Haak. Ratos developed with extensive ownership in companies such as

Stora Kopparberg Falun Mine () was a mine in Falun, Sweden, that operated for a millennium from the 10th century to 1992. It produced as much as two-thirds of Europe's copper needs and helped fund many of Sweden's wars in the 17th century. Technological developme ...

, Gränges and

Esselte Esselte is a manufacturer and marketer of office products and business supplies with subsidiaries in 25 countries and sales in over 120 countries. Esselte makes files, binders, folders, covers, staplers, letter trays and computer accessories under ...

in addition to a wholly owned

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

division. It was listed on the stock exchange in 1954. In 1979 the steel division, that at the time was called Tibnor, was sold to the state owned

SSAB SSAB ABSSAB ASSAB B
, earlier Svenskt Stål AB (), is a Swedish company, formed in 1978, that spec ...

as part of the re-organization of the crisis hit steel industry. After that the company expanded into new areas, including a larger number of transport companies, the hotel chain

Scandic Hotels Scandic Hotels is a Swedish hotel chain headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with its main operations in the Nordic countries. Alongside hotels in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, the company also has a presence in Germany and Poland. As of 31 ...

and the plumbing chain Dahl International. During this period Sven Söderberg (1928-2004) was President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. The financial crisis hit Ratos with reduced profits in 1992 and Urban Jansson was appointed new CEO and the subsidiaries were either floated on the stock exchange or sold. After Arne Karlsson took over as CEO, Ratos was transformed to a private equity company. Magnus Agervald was appointed as CEO of Ratos in July 2016, replacing acting CEO Lars Johansson. In 2019, Ratos sold the Adelswärdska house, the building on

Drottninggatan Drottninggatan (''Queen Street'') in Stockholm, Sweden, is a major pedestrian street. It stretches north from the bridge Riksbron at Norrström, in the district of Norrmalm, to Observatorielunden in the district of Vasastaden. Composition Fo ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

where the head office is located. Buyers were the

National Property Board of Sweden The National Property Board of Sweden (, SFV) is a Swedish State administrative authority, organised under the Ministry of Finance. SFV is responsible for managing a portion of the real property assets owned by the State. The portfolio consists ...

. The reason for the sale was the increasingly increased safety requirements in the environment, as the building lies between the Sagerska palace (the Prime Minister's Housing) and

Rosenbad Rosenbad (, lit. "rosen bath") is a building in central Stockholm, precinct of Norrmalm. It is a building owned by the Swedish State and serves as the seat of the Government. The present government of Sweden is the right-leaning Kristersson C ...

(Government Offices) and the area was increasingly blocked off. The property was purchased by Söderberg & Haak in 1938 and later became rated. Ratos may dispose of the building until 2021.

Holdings

Industry

*AH Industries - metal components and services to the wind power, offshore and marine industries. (stake 66%) *

Camfil The Camfil Group is a producer and developer of air filters and clean air products. Camfil has 24 production units and R&D centres in four countries in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The Group, headquartered in Stockholm, S ...

- clean air technology and air filters. (stake 30%) *Contex Group - developer and manufacturer. (stake 98%) *

DIAB Dataindustrier AB (literal translation: computer industries shareholding company) or DIAB was a Sweden, Swedish computer engineering and manufacturing firm, founded in 1970 by Lars Karlsson and active in the 1970s through 1990s. The company's firs ...

- manufactures and develops core materials for composite structures. (stake 94%) *EuroMaint - maintenance companies and offers maintenance services to the rail transport sector and industry. (stake 100%) *GS-Hydro - supplier of non-welded piping systems. (stake 100%) *HL Display - supplier of products and systems for merchandising and in-store communication. (stake 29%) *Inwido - manufactures and sells windows and doors to consumers, construction companies and modular home manufacturers. (stake 96%) *Jøtul - manufacturer of stoves and fireplaces. (stake 63%) *Lindab - development, production, marketing and distribution of systems and products in sheet metal and steel for the construction industry. (stake 22%) *MCC - offers complete climate comfort systems. (stake 100%) *Medisize - manufacturer specialised in medical devices for delivery and administration of drugs and pharmaceutical packaging. (stake 93%) *Superfos - develops, produces and sells injection moulded packaging for the food, paint and chemical industries. (stake 33%)

Service

Anticimex Anticimex is an international modern pest control company. Anticimex means "Against Cimex, bed bugs". Anticimex is mainly owned by EQT AB and have subsidiaries in 21 countries. Anticimex operates in the areas of pest control, building enviro ...

- services for healthy and safe indoor environments. (stake 85%) * Bisnode - provider of digital business information. (stake 70%)

Consumer goods

* Arcus Gruppen - wine and spirits producer. (stake 83%) *Hafa Bathroom Group - bathroom furnishing. (stake 100%)

Other holdings

*BTJ Group - supplier of media products and information services to libraries, universities, companies and organisations. (stake 66%) *

IK Investment Partners IK Partners (“IK”) is a European private equity firm focused on small and mid cap investments in the Benelux, DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), France, the Nordic countries, Nordics countries and United Kingdom. The firm is led by Christ ...

- Ratos has invested in four funds: 1989 (closed), 1994 (closed), 1997 and 2000. *Overseas Telecom - telecom operations in developing countries. (stake 9%, voting rights 19%)

References

External links

Corporate web site
Companies based in Stockholm Private equity firms of Sweden Holding companies of Sweden 1933 establishments in Sweden Financial services companies established in 1933 Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm {{Sweden-company-stub