Industrivarden mum on new Ericsson CEO as investment firm reports Q3 (updated)
06/10/2016 11:48
(Adds Industrivarden CEO comments, background)
Oct 6 (Reuters) - Industrivarden's INDUa.ST CEO Helena
Stjernholm said the top priority in the investment group's
underperforming holdings was to "bring order" but remained mum
about the ongoing process to recruit a new chief for hard-hit
Ericsson ERICb.ST .
* Industrivarden holds big stakes in Swedish blue-chips such
as Ericsson, truckmaker Volvo VOLVb.ST , engineering firm
Sandvik SAND.ST , banking group Handelsbanken SHBa.ST and
hygiene products firm SCA SCAb.ST .
* Industrivarden owns shares equal to around 15 pct of votes
in Ericsson, which has been struggling for years and sacked its
CEO in July. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1AB0ZO urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1CA177
* Industrivarden CEO Helena Stjernholm declined to comment
on process to recruit a new Ericsson CEO and view on future
strategy for the mobile telecoms gear maker.
* Business daily Dagens Industri said earlier this week that
Ericsson's board, where Stjernholm has a seat, is close to
making a decision on a new CEO. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1C90IM
* Stjernholm, asked about Industrivardens patience with
underperforming holdings, says: "The first priority is to bring
order where we think there is further potential.""Over time I
think there will be changes, not only within the companies, but
also in our portfolio. But we should do that in a sensible way
in that case. That's something that we will have to evaluate
over time."
* Stjernholm, asked if Industrivarden is still committed
long-term to its Ericsson holding, says: "We a long-term asset
management strategy in general, which I think is very good. So
we continue to work on creating value in the companies we have.
But even if you have a long-term strategy you need to look at
different time horizons on what to do to build competitive
companies, and also create value."
* Stjernholm, asked about progress with Industrivarden's
fresh strategy to also invest in smaller-sized listed Nordic
companies, says: "We have a small group of people including
myself working actively on that. If we look at midcap companies
I feel that if we find the right opportunity, we could act
today."
* Industrivarden's growth in net asset value was 14 pct in
the Jan-Sept period, including reinvested dividends, compared
with 6 pct for the Stockholm Stock Exchange's return index.
Source text for Eikon: ID:nSSN6vWG
Further company coverage: INDUa.ST
(Reporting by Johannes Hellstrom; editing by Niklas Pollard)
((johannes.hellstrom@thomsonreuters.com; +4687001008; Reuters
Messaging: johannes.hellstrom.reuters.com@reuters.net))