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The Wallenberg family of industrialists has stepped up its succession planning, placing the first members of its sixth generation on listed company boards in Sweden.
Jacob Wallenberg Jr, an executive at US start-up Ramp, will join the board of private equity firm EQT while Fred Wallenberg, a manager at industrial group Piab, will become a non-executive director of Investor, the main family investment vehicle.
“We are grateful that many from the sixth generation want to engage in family-related activities across business, foundations, and family roles,” said the three cousins who lead the fifth generation: Jacob, Marcus and Peter Wallenberg.
The move to the sixth generation of Wallenbergs is one of the most closely watched succession events in European business. The Wallenbergs own about $700bn of stakes in businesses including Ericsson, Saab and AstraZeneca through family foundations.
Power in the family has been highly concentrated until now with only one, two or three individuals in each of the first five generations taking on the lion’s share of board positions in the sprawling business empire.
But the Wallenbergs told the Financial Times last year that they wanted to give opportunities to more of the 30 members of the sixth generation, who range in age from 12 to 45. They also want to include women for the first time.
Among other moves announced on Monday, the Wallenbergs said that Stéphanie Gandet, a French lawyer, would join the board of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the largest and oldest family foundation.
Siri Sachs will become a non-executive of Wallenberg Investments, a new body designed to manage the multiple holdings, while Tessa Pilkington will join the board of Nineteen Private Capital, an alternative investment manager. Elsa Wallenberg Esser will also start working at the Wallenberg Foundations.
“The foundations . . . play a critical role in funding Swedish basic research and education. Their ability to do so depends on the successful management of our investments. We are delighted by the growing involvement and commitment of the sixth generation,” said Jacob, Marcus and Peter Wallenberg in a joint statement. The three cousins are aged 68, 68 and 65.
They stressed that the new positions were “part of an ongoing process rather than definitive decisions about long-term roles”.
About half of the sixth generation have had observer roles on various corporate and foundation boards up until now.
The Wallenbergs are one of Europe’s leading family of industrialists, with large stakes in companies from industrial groups Atlas Copco and Electrolux to EQT and stock market operator Nasdaq.
The family themselves do not own the stakes, which are instead run by family foundations providing billions of Swedish krona a year to basic scientific research.
