Swedish financial authorities will investigate recent share purchases by Investor which, combined with shares owned by the Wallenberg group, which owns Investor, raises the group’s voting rights to over 30%.
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At this level a shareholder would normally be required to register its intent to take over a company.
Investor raised its voting rights from 19.3% to 20.1% at the beginning of last week. Wallenberg Group also owns shares and this raises their combined voting rights to 30.6%.
A spokesperson for the Stockholm-based financial watchdog told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri that the investigation will look at whether Investor and the Wallenberg group obtained the additional shares as part of an attempt to bring Scania under its own control.
An Investor spokesperson told the newspaper that the share purchase was part of an agreed strategy between Investor and the Wallenberg organisation.
Volkswagen is still the largest shareholder in Scania with 34% of the shares, but the shock resignation of Bernd Pischetsrieder as CEO of Volkswagen Group last week has been viewed in Sweden as a strong indication of an imminent failure in the planned merger of MAN and Scania.
Investor CEO Börje Ekholm has been reported as saying; “An independent Scania is a possibility.”
