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Award winners Europe Norway

Today, Ferd is one of Scandinavia’s most

successful investment groups, and also one

of Norway’s oldest family businesses. Ferd is

currently led by fifth-generation family member Johan H. Andresen. More than 15 years ago,

together with his father, he took the bold decision

to sell the main operating business and transform

the company into an investment house.

Johan believes that one of his biggest

achievements has been the development of the

Ferd Social Entrepreneurs business. This, he

says, will help to engage the interest of the next

generation and foster Ferd’s longevity as a family

business.

Europe

North America

Latin America

Asia-Pacific

Johan H. AndresenFerd AS

“I told my daughters, let’s make the company so interesting that you won’t need to make a single investment outside of it.”

Johan H. Andresen,

Chairman of the Board,

Ferd AS

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Award winners Europe Norway

focused on its money-making investments. Ferd is also one of

the biggest Norwegian investors in social enterprise projects.

When telling the story of the family business, Johan likes

to start from the year 1849. Back then, his great-great-grandfather, also called Johan, bought a tobacco company

called Tiedemanns, which became the basis of the family

business for more than 150 years. The original Johan also

ran an import and wholesale business for other commodities,

and had interests in shipping and a wide variety of financial

investments. “This is probably where the family’s desire began

to not just own one type of business, but others as well,” says

Johan.

But in the 19th and 20th centuries, it was Tiedemanns —

which became one of the biggest tobacco companies in

Scandinavia — that provided most of the family’s wealth.

Highlights from the history of the tobacco business include

the company’s expansion into Sweden in the late 19th

century; the creation of the Teddy cigarette brand, named

after US President Theodore Roosevelt, in 1914; and the

launch of the Tiedemanns Gul brand of loose tobacco in the

early 1930s.

Business owners do not often talk about making their businesses

interesting. Making profits, yes; expanding abroad, yes; hiring more people, yes; but you rarely hear business leaders talk

openly about how interesting their business is.

But for Johan H. Andresen, making his business interesting

is crucial for its long-term survival. “I told my daughters, let’s

make the company so interesting that you won’t need to make

a single investment outside of it,” he says. “That should help

to guarantee their engagement with the business for years to

come.” The company Johan is talking about is the Norwegian

investment group Ferd. And he is right about it being interesting.

It all started 160 years ago

Ferd is one of Norway’s biggest investment groups, and it can

trace its history back more than 160 years. Ferd has big stakes

in some highly successful non-listed companies, including many

working in the country’s energy sector, such as oil and renewable

energy services company Aibel, oilfield technology business Interwell and seismic-data provider Petroleum Geo-Services.

Ferd also invests in publicly listed stocks and hedge funds, and

has sizable real estate holdings. But the company is not wholly

world leader in ski wax, clothing and ski poles. They were also

the pioneer within the salmon farming business, but sold it

too easy. A huge mistake, with the benefit of hindsight, says Johan.

But it was in the 1990s that the family business went through its

biggest change. Johan and his father, also called Johan, made

the decision to sell the tobacco business and convert the family

firm into an investment company. “We decided we wanted to revamp the company entirely into a new type of entity,” says

Johan. In 1998, the same year Johan took over the ownership

During the 20th century, the family business added other

companies to its portfolio. Under the third-generation

family member Joh H. Andresen, who took over in 1923,

Tiedemanns helped to establish Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, a

Norwegian publishing company, which published the works

of some of the country’s great authors, including Bjørnson,

Ibsen and Kielland. In 1934, a shipping business was added.

And in 1957, the group created the packaging company

Elopak to manufacture beverage cartons. Being Norwegian,

the acquisition of SWIX in 1978 was a given! SWIX is now the

Four generations of family leaders: 01 Founder Johan H. Andresen (first generation); 02 Nicolai Andresen (second generation); 03 Joh H. Andresen (third generation);

04 Johan H. Andresen (fourth generation).

Ferd has a big investment in the oil and renewable energy service company Aibel. This is Johan and his board of directors.

01 02 03 04

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“Since we’ve professionalized the business, it’s no longer dependent on a family member.”Johan H. Andresen

in their early 20s. Johan says that one of the ways Ferd keeps the interest of future generations is through the company’s engagement with social entrepreneurs. This part of the company’s work involves organizations, projects and individuals in activities whose social outcomes carry greater weight than their financial results. “We support these groups and individuals in the same way we support any company, although we didn’t, up until now, take equity stakes,” says Johan. “These efforts have become a very important part of what we are at Ferd and what we stand for.”

With its broad range of businesses — most linked to delivering wider social outcomes as well as profits — coupled with its extraordinary history, Ferd should not have too many problems attracting the attention of the sixth generation and beyond. Indeed, the company is an inspiration not just for young family members, but for many other family businesses as well.

of the group and became CEO, Tiedemanns was merged into the Scandinavian Tobacco Company. And in 2005, the family sold all of its remaining shares in the tobacco business.

In order to build a fresh identity after the sale, the business was rebranded with the name Ferd in 2001. The word means “a journey without an end” in Norwegian, says Johan. “It came from a little part of the Viking tradition,” he adds.

The concept behind Ferd was taken from the best examples of investment groups around the world, says Johan. Role models included Berkshire Hathaway, run by the famous investor Warren Buffett; Investor AB, owned by the Swedish Wallenberg family; and the Norwegian investment group Orkla. “We wanted to pick from the best,” says Johan. The business today is broken up into six divisions: Ferd Capital, Ferd Invest, Ferd Hedge Funds, Ferd Special Investments, Ferd Real Estate and Ferd Social Entrepreneurs.

Non-family members run the business

The other big initiative taken in the 2000s was to set up a professional board and bring in outside senior managers to run the business without direct family involvement. A year after his father died in 2011, Johan became Chairman and passed the post of Chief Executive over to the first non-family member ever to hold that position.

The traditional process of succession at the family business had always been based on giving the ownership of the operational businesses to the eldest son. “Once my father stepped aside, I got full control of all the assets,” says Johan. “My three siblings were given other types of assets, such as stocks and bonds, but they were no longer part of the company.” But Johan says that Ferd will not transition in the same way to the sixth generation.

“Since we’ve professionalized the business, it’s no longer dependent on a family member.”

Many of the shares in the business have already been given to Johan’s two daughters Katharina and Alexandra, who are

Award winners Europe Norway

Johan H. Andresen with his wife and his parents at ELOPAK’s 50th anniversary. ELOPAK is one of the world’s leading packaging systems for liquid food production.

With the initiative Ferd Social Entrepreneurs, the company focuses on those who are giving children a new opportunity through education and empowerment.

Johan H. AndresenChairman of the Board

Company name: Ferd AS

Generation(s): Fifth

Founded: 1849 in Oslo, Norway

Industries: Conglomerate; industrial and financial investments

Employees: Approx. 16,000 (companies of which Ferd owns more than 50%)

Value Adjusted Equity: NOK26.3b (6/2015)