''Statsföretag'' was a Swedish government holding company and

national wealth fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity ...

for more than 20 years. The company was created by the

Swedish Parliament The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, f ...

to centralize and consolidate state ownership of public commercial assets especially within heavy industries such as

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

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 ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

. During the economic crisis of the 1970s in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, several other assets were

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

and the activities of the company became organized along multiple industrial segments. After severe losses, the company was restructured in 1983 and renamed Procordia, with a number of industrial assets such as ASSI,

LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a state-owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s. Th ...

and

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

transferred and held directly by the Ministry of Industry In 1987, the company was partially privatized and the state participation reduced to 81%. The company shares were listed on October 15, 1987, 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 ...

. In 1990 Procordia was merged with the pharmaceutical company

Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfel ...

and the food company Provendor owned by

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

. Consequently, the main owners became

and the Swedish government. The government shares were held through the wholly owned national wealth fund

Fortia Formal Methods Europe (FME) is an organization whose aim is to encourage the research and application of formal methods for the improvement of software and hardware in computer-based systems. The association's members are drawn from academia and in ...

and subsequently Stattum In 1992, with the acquisition of

Swedish Match Swedish Match AB is a Swedish multinational tobacco company headquartered in Stockholm. It has been owned by the American Philip Morris International since 2022. The company manufactures snus, nicotine pouches, moist snuff, tobacco- and nicotine ...

the company was divided into two separate sub-holdings, being the pharmaceutical segment in Pharmacia and the food segment in Branded Consumer Products. Volvo became the main owner in Branded Consumer Products and ultimately the sole owner in 1994, changing the name to Procordia Food. In 1995 Procordia Food was acquired by the Norwegian food company Orkla and Pharmacia merged with the US pharmaceutical company Upjohn and became

Pharmacia & Upjohn Pharmacia & Upjohn was a global pharmaceutical company formed by the merger of Sweden-based Pharmacia AB and the American company Upjohn in 1995. Today the remainder of the company is owned by Pfizer. In 1997, Pharmacia & Upjohn sold several b ...

. In January 1999, Stattum, the Swedish

National Wealth Fund A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity ...

sold the Swedish government's remaining 7% in the pharmaceuticals group

in a EUR 1.8bn share offering.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Statsföretag 1991 establishments in Sweden Government-owned companies of Sweden Sovereign wealth funds