Letter from Aktiespararna and Folksam

Both Aktiespararna and Folksam have sent letters to Investor and other companies ahead of the Annual General Meeting 2021.

Investor appreciates the opportunity to interact and have a dialogue with our shareholders. Investor would therefore want to clarify what steps we have taken, given the ongoing pandemic, to facilitate for the shareholders to form an opinion about Investor’s development 2020 and about the proposals brought forward to the Annual General Meeting  as well as to have the possibility to raise questions to the Board and Management. The Annual General Meeting on May 5, 2021 is conducted by advance voting.

The Notice and the proposed resolutions were published on March 30, 2021. Investor’s Chair and CEO will address different topics as well as discuss Investors’ development 2020 in a pre-recorded webcast. The webcast will be published on May 3, 2021 on Investor’s webpage, in advance of the Annual General Meeting. On May 3, Investor Chair and CEO will also host a live conference call so that shareholders and media can raise questions directly to them.

Folksam has also urged companies to let the Annual General Meeting decide on the companies’ climate strategy. Climate risk is indeed a large global challenge. Investor’s view is that the decision on what climate strategy a company should pursue is an operational decision, and not for the owners to decide on. Investor’s Board of Directors has decided on climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement – halving CO2 emissions by 2030 with 2016 as the base-year – for Investor as a company and for our total portfolio.

Letter from 1st AP Fund 

1st AP Fund wishes the board to report on the process for producing the proposal for an incentive program, which persons and any consultants have participated (in addition to the remuneration committee and the board) and in what way these persons have participated.

None of the Investor AB board members participate in Investor’s incentive programs, except for Johan Forssell, the CEO of the company. The CEO does not participate when the bord makes decisions in relation to the remuneration of the CEO, including decisions regarding incentive programs.

Investor’s Remuneration Committee is responsible for matters concerning remuneration of the management group, such as evaluation and preparation of proposals regarding remuneration guidelines and incentive programs for the management group. The Remuneration Committee is ultimately responsible and has the ultimate influence over principles, definitions and conditions concerning Investor’s remuneration programs. Based on the Remuneration Committee’s recommendation, the board makes the final decision regarding the design and main conditions (including goal fulfillment criteria) for the incentive program proposal that the board proposes to the annual general meeting.

As presented above, consequently, those who are included in Investor’s incentive programs have not had any major influence over the program and have not participated in decisions regarding the final design of the incentive program.

Question about Electrolux 
What is your view on Electrolux’s situation and the talk about a divestment of the U.S. operations? Is Investor going to be a driving force in that question?

We never comment hypothetical transactions and speculation. What we can say is that, as an owner, we work through the boards of our companies and based on our value creation plans, we try to drive those initiatives that we believe will contribute to profitable growth, operational efficiency, a sound industrial structure, financial flexibility, sustainable business models, etc. In the case of Electrolux, we have commented that improving the performance in the U.S. operations is a key priority for the company.

Question regarding SEB’s approach on fossil fuels
As a shareholder in Investor it is distressing to read about Fair Finance’s review of among others the Swedish banks support to the fossil industry,  see link SEB being ranked at the bottom is something Investor should focus on to improve. My question is what steps Investor is taking so that SEB will move towards financing more sustainable customers? As it is now, SEB does not match Investor’s Sustainability Policy.

Climate risk is truly one of the great global challenges. To address this, Investor has decided on targets for our total portfolio of companies to halve emissions per 2030 and in accordance with the Paris Agreement. As of 2020, our portfolio companies had reduced their CO2 emissions by 40 percent compared to 2016. Regarding SEB, the bank in February decided on a new policy on fossil fuels. We support this step as we believe it is the right way forward and as it is in line with the Paris Agreement.