Ikano
Ikano Group or Ikano S.A. is a privately held international group of companies headquartered in Luxembourg and active in Sweden. It was founded and is owned by Peter, Jonas and Matthias Kamprad, sons of Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, and became independent of Ikea in 1988.[1][2] Ikano manages the Kamprad family fortune.
The group consists of five units, with separate headquarters:
- Financial services (Lund)
- Real estate (Lund)
- Insurance services (Luxembourg)
- Asset management (Luxembourg)
- Retail sales (Singapore)
Subsidiaries in Sweden include Ikano Bank SE in Älmhult, Ikano Fastighets AB (real estate) with subsidiaries Ikano Retail Centres and Ikano Bostad (retail and residential respectively) in Lund and Ikano Försäkring AB (insurance) in Sundbyberg. Ikano Bostad has built and bought apartment buildings and also converted other buildings to residential use in various parts of Sweden, primarily in the Stockholm and Öresund markets and in university towns.[3] Ikano Retail Centres develops shopping centres in Scandinavia, including Finland.[4] Ikano Bank has followed a strategy of charging relatively high fees for convenience, for example in borrowing money.[5] It expanded into the Netherlands in September 2012[6] and in 2013 registered a bank in Russia, Ikano Bank LLC, which it owns jointly with Credit Europe Bank.[7]
From 1992 to 2009, Ikano owned the UK furniture retailer Habitat.[8][9]
In 2011, Arja Taaveniku succeeded Birger Lund as CEO of Ikano.[10]
References
- ↑ The Group, Ikano Group, retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ↑ Facts & Figures, Ikano Group, retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ↑ Juan Flores, "Ikano fortsätter att köpa lägenheter", Ekonomi, Dagens Nyheter, 13 September 2005 (Swedish)
- ↑ Matti Pietiläinen, "Ikano Kuopion vuokrissa Aapelin rinnalle", Savon Sanomat, 8 October 2011 (Finnish)
- ↑ Mai Zeilund Jessen, "Ikano Bank vil tage kunder fra traditionelle banker", Investor, Børsen, 8 November 2010 (Danish)
- ↑ "Ikano Bank starts activities in The Netherlands", Press release, Ikano Group, 1 September 2012, retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ↑ "Ikano Group and Credit Europe Bank Registered Jointly Owned Russian Bank", Press release, Ikano Group, 27 June 2013, retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ↑ Gérard Laizé, "Habitat en attente d'un plan de relance", LSA, 24 April 2003 (French)
- ↑ Kathy Gordon, "Iconic Habitat brand sold to Home retail", MarketWatch, 24 June 2011.
- ↑ "Arja Taaveniku appointed CEO of Ikano Group", Press release, Ikano Group, 8 September 2011, retrieved 10 November 2013.
