Our Business Model - Engaged Ownership
We are an engaged and long-term owner
We are an engaged long-term owner that actively supports the building and development of best-in-class companies. Through substantial ownership and board participation, we drive the initiatives that we believe will create the most value for each individual company. Ultimately this creates value for our shareholders and for society at large.
The future of our companies depends on their capacity to drive change and their willingness to invest for the long-term. We encourage innovation, creativity, collaboration and relentless execution, so that our companies can be successful and grow profitably over time.
Over the past decade, we have established strong cash flow generation based on dividends from our Listed Companies, distribution from Patricia Industries’ companies and net proceeds from our investments in EQT. This cash flow allows us to finance investments in both existing and new companies and to pay a steadily rising dividend.
We buy-to-build best-in-class companies
We firmly believe that to become or remain best-in-class, companies must have the ability to invest in research and development, regardless of pressure from the stock market or from other external forces.
Our investment philosophy is “buy-to-build”, and to develop the companies over time, as long as we see further value creation potential. We actively support our companies in making attractive investments, and are willing to sacrifice short-term profit-ability for longer-term value creation. However, our long-term perspective is never an excuse for weak short-term performance.
If we arrive at the conclusion that a certain company would be better off in a different ownership, or that it no longer offers attractive enough development potential, we would actively drive an exit process and try to maximize the value for our shareholders.
We own companies in industries we understand well, and in which we can use our experience, network, and financial expertise. This means that we invest in companies in the Nordic region and in North America, mainly within; engineering, healthcare, financial services and technology.
Attributes that we seek in our investments are; strong market positions, sustainable and flexible business models, strong corporate cultures, exposure to growth markets, strong cash flow, continuous focus on innovation and R&D, and exposure to service and aftermarket sales.
We focus on building sustainable businesses
We have a long tradition of being a responsible owner and company. We firmly believe that sustainability integrated in the business model is a prerequisite for creating long-term value.