Handelsbanken - Arne Mårtensson sails round the world and leaves all assignments
The contract between Handelsbanken and Arne Mårtensson from his accession as Group CEO in 1991 expires in 2006. He then reaches his stipulated retirement age after 15 years as CEO and chairman.
Arne Mårtensson will then realize a long-standing dream - to sail round the world together with his wife Heléne. For the circumnavigation they will sail their Hallberg-Rassy 62 sailing yacht "Yaghan" built in 2003 for this purpose. They will set sail in 2006 and plan to complete the journey in 2009. The total distance is over 44 000 nautical miles. They will follow a westbound route rounding Cape Horn - including a visit to Antarctica - and round the Cape of Good Hope.
Arne Mårtensson will therefore decline renominations to the boards of Handelsbanken (where he is chairman), Ericsson (vice chairman), Sandvik, Skanska, Industrivärden, Holmen and Vin&Sprit. He will also leave all other positions such as chairman of the Stockholm School of Economics Advisory Board and the Business Council of the World Economic Forum.
It is the joint intention of Arne Mårtensson and the most important owners within the Handelsbanken sphere - Industrivärden, Handelsbanken Pension Foundations, Oktogonen, the Lundberg group and SCA - that, after his circumnavigation, Arne Mårtensson will return to important positions in the Handelsbanken sphere.
The Nomination Committee is proposing Lars O Grönstedt - currently Group CEO of Handelsbanken - as Mr Mårtensson's successor as chairman of the bank. The members of the Nomination Committee are Tom Hedelius, chairman of Industrivärden and chairman of the Nomination Committee, Arne Mårtensson, Stellan Borgh, Oktogonen Foundation, Tomas Nicolin, Alecta and Carl Rosén, the Second Swedish National Pension Fund/AP2.
The board of the bank intends to appoint Pär Boman as the new Group CEO after Mr Grönstedt. Pär Boman is currently head of Handelsbanken Markets. He is 43 years old and his previous positions within the bank include being head of the regional bank in Denmark and manager of the Norrköping Drottninggatan branch office. The changes will take effect at the Annual General Meeting of 2006.
Three foundations have a pivotal ownership role within the Handelsbanken sphere. They are Handelsbanken's Pensionskassa, Pensionsstiftelse and Personalstiftelse. Arne Mårtensson is currently chairman of all three. The boards of these foundations have jointly with the Handelsbanken central board agreed to appoint Curt Källströmer as Arne Mårtensson's successor in these foundations. Mr Källströmer is currently vice chairman of all three.
For further information, please contact:
| Arne Mårtensson, Chairman of the Board | +46 8 22 92 20 |
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| Johan Lagerström, dep. head of Corporate | |
| Communications | +46 8 701 13 95 or |
| | +46 70 265 80 14 |
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| Bengt Ragnå, head of Investor Relations | +46 8 701 12 16 or |
| | +46 70 567 12 16 |
For more information about Arne Mårtensson's circumnavigation: www.yaghan.com
The press release can be downloaded from the following link: