Christen Ager-Hanssen

Ager-Hanssen is a former Investment AB Kinnevik Group Executive and recognized as an Internet commercialization pioneer.[2][7][13] Investment AB Kinnevik is an Investment Company with over 75 years of entrepreneurship and Group companies had a combined market capitalization of SEK 175bn in November 2012[14]

Kinnevik´s head office in Stockholm.

Within the Kinnevik Group he was also active as a Senior Executive in Tele2 AB and its international expansion. Ager-Hanssen founded several Internet startup together with Investment AB Kinnevik including Netsys Technology Group, Webware and Polarsearch, one of the first search engines in Scandinavia.[2] Ager-Hanssen is one among the dozen people within Kinnevik Group mentioned in the press that later become entrepreneurs in their own capacity.[6][7][15]

Ager-Hanssen has been a very active and profiled stock trader/investor on the Swedish stock exchange with investment in many blue chip companies. In 1999, Dagens Industri described him as a stock trader who made huge profits from being a brilliant stock trader rather than making profit from his own investment portfolio. His investment portfolio was at the time valued at SEK 1.7 Billion.[2][5]

In early 1998 Ager-Hanssen made a bid for NetSys Technology Group including Webware and Polarsearch together with the National Pension Fund of Sweden. The bid was successful and ended up with Ager-Hanssen controlling 60% of the company through a new established Joint Venture with the National Pension Fund of Sweden. Kinnevik and other shareholders made a successful exit.[2][16] In June 1998 Ager-Hanssen made a successful hostile cash bid on the publicly traded company Verimation AB. The bid was MSEK 120 and Ager-Hanssen thereafter delisted the company and integrated the business into the Joint Venture with the Pension Fund. Verimation had developed one of the first email systems in the world branded as Memo.[2][3] Memo had at the time approximately 2.5 million end user client and was well established among Fortune 500 companies.Later the same year NetSys Technology Group was valued to more than MUSD 388.[3]

NASDAQ - Graph including the Dot-com Bubble.

Early 2000, just before the Dot-com Bubble burst, Ager-Hanssen choose to divest his shares in the Joint Venture with the Pension Fund. The profit from the divestment was used to fuel his investment activities. The National Pension Fund was not so lucky with the timing and lost more than MSEK 350 on the investment in the Joint Venture. Their lack of competence was criticised lengthily in the Swedish press and the Fund tried to escape the spotlight by blaming Ager-Hanssen. The story was front page news in all major Swedish Newspaper[17] Later the same year NetSys Technology Group was valued to more than MUSD 388.[3]

Late 1998, Ager-Hanssen founded a Venture Capital company called Cognition where he organised most of his internet related Investment.[2][5][6] He employed several high profile individuals among others Ulf Sundqvist,[6] former trade minister in Finland and Mrs Gillian Nott a former Financial Service Authority director. As non-executive chairman he appointed Ron Sandler who was the former Lloyd's of London chief executive and also a former NatWest executive.[6] and Gillian Nott a former Financial Service Authority director. Sandler commented on the appointment in Financial Times

"When I went to NatWest six months ago, the world looked like a certain world. Now it has changed substantially," he said. "In contrast to companies like Cognition, old financial services megaliths appear very slow moving and quite bureaucratic."[18]

Cognition was valued by HSBC in beginning of 2000 to approximately 1 Billion GBP and planned for an Initial public offering (IPO) on London Stock Exchange. The company never floated because of the Dot-com bubble.[6][18]

Mail on Sunday described Ager-Hanssen in 2001 after the Dot-com bubble as a man that lost a fortune on the bubble. In many articles in Scandinavia,US and UK, he was portrayed as a visible symbol for the bubble[19][20][21][22][23]

Ager-Hanssen´s Investment Company Custos acquired Metro (Swedish newspaper) from Investment AB Kinnevik in February 2017.[24] Swedish Metro was the original disrupter in the media Industry and The world’s first free newspaper launched as early as 1995. Metro is today the biggest newspaper in Sweden and the company have interests in music, fashion, recruitment, health, E-sport and loyalty programs. At the time of the acquisition, Ager-Hanssen was quoted "All of Metro’s business culture is based on surprising the market and doing business that shake up the industry, this fits perfectly with our ambitions in the media sector"[25][26][27][28][29][30]

In August 2017[31] it was reported that Ager-Hanssen whose private equity firm Custos Group owns the Metro freesheet in Sweden (Swedens biggest newspaper) had acquired a strategic stake in the 250-year-old publisher Johnston Press plc with the plans to use their digital assets in the same way as Metro, bartering exposure online for equity in start-ups.

Johnston Press plc owns titles such as i (The i Newspaper is a National Newspaper in United Kingdom. It represent 20% of the quality news in the country.), The Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman.Johnston Press is a leading multimedia business in UK with news brands that reach national, regional and local audiences. The Group have a portfolio of hundreds of publications and websites. Ager-Hanssen revealed his plan to use Johnston Press audience of more than 32million people to help kickstart new ventures.[9][10][11][12][32][33] In October 2017 it was reported that activist investor Ager-Hanssen had become the biggest shareholder in Johnston Press plc and that he planned to oust the board and the CEO.[34] Alex Salmond former first minister in Scotland was according to the press lined up[35] to become chairman of Johnston Press in an audacious plan to shake up its board. Ager-Hanssen demanded new management, more investment in journalism and a revamped digital strategy.[36]

The attempted boardroom coup at Johnston Press was thwarted by a controversial “poison pill” defence. Ager-Hanssen branded Johnston Press’s dead hand proxy put “a grotesque abuse of fiduciary duty”. Johnston Press is believed to be the first example of an activist coming up against such a poison pill in the UK. Ager-Hanssen commented on the poison pill in The Telegraph: The poison pill cynically deprives shareholders of their fundamental right to change the board as they see fit. That power has been stolen from them. This is nothing short of corporate theft of power in which only the directors can decide who replaces them. The board seeks to play shareholder and bondholder interests off of one another in the hope that the balance of power can remain in the hands of a few cozy fat cats.[37][38][39][40][41] In the beginning of May 2018 the CEO of Johnston Press, Ashley Highfield stepped down and Ager-Hanssen declared that he now would increase his stake in the 250-year-old publisher.[42][43][44][45][46][47]

In 2005 Ager-Hanssen and Porter invested together in the airline and travel industry. They acquired among others a controlling stake in the close to bankrupt publicly listed company FlyMe Europe AB (FLY-B.SK). FlyMe Europe was a low-cost carrier based in Gothenburg with an aim to become one of the leading low-cost carriers in Europe.[48][49][50][51][52]

FlyMe Boeing 737-500.

Ager-Hanssen and Porters first step in achieving their goal to become a leading low-cost carrier in Europe was to convince the owner of the biggest Danish carrier Sterling European Airlines A/S and Maersk Air, Icelandic Billionaire Palmi Haraldsson, to join their plan. Haraldsson agreed and acquired a strategic holding in FlyMe Europe. Haraldsson had already invested MDKK 500 in Sterling European Airlines and an undisclosed amount in Maersk Air and Iceland Express and saw an opportunity in bringing it all together in a listed holding company such as FlyMe Europe. Having together secured a majority stake and voting control in FlyMe they changed the board and raised MSEK 272 to fuel FlyMe Europe's international expansion and to position the company for the consolidation in the Airline Industry.[51][52][53][54]

In late 2005, Haraldsson accepted an offer from FL Group ehf to divest his holding in Sterling Airlines(the merged entity of Sterling European Airlines and Maersk) for DKK 1.5 Billion. FL Group, led by Hannes Smárason,had at the time a 16% strategic holding in the second largest low-cost carrier in Europe, EasyJet as well as holdings in American Airlines.[52][55][56]

Sterling Airlines, 737-700.

Ager-Hanssen and Haraldsson continued the consolidation discussion with FL Group's CEO, Smárason and FL Group's majority owner Baugur represented by Icelandic Billionaire Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson. The plan was according to the press for Sterling Airlines to do a so-called reverse takeover based on a valuation on Sterling Airlines A/S of DKK 2.0 Billion.[57][58][59] After a short pre due diligence of Sterling in June/July 2006 the board of FlyMe and Ager-Hanssen decided not to proceed with the acquisitions of Sterling.[55][56]

Easyjet, Airbus.

Global Supply Systems Boeing 747-400.

The decision not to acquire Sterling disturbed Haraldsson and Smárason's take-over plan and they got very upset. The decision not to acquire Sterling made it impossible for Ager-Hanssen/Porter to continue a business relationship with Haraldsson and in September 2006 they acquired Haraldsson's shares in FlyMe Europe. This led to a battle between the airlines with no winners. The battle was described in detail in the press.[59] [60][61][62] [63][64][65]

Both airlines later went bankrupt because the owners would not support the companies with additional capital.

Ager-Hanssen and Porter also had a controlling stake in the English-based freight operator Global Supply Systems (GSS).[52] GSS was launched in 2001 as a British all-cargo carrier whose principal business was providing aircraft on long-term leases to other airlines on an ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) basis. Global Supply Systems was joint venture with Atlas Air Worldwide. Atlas air is operating the world's largest fleet of modern Boeing 747 all-cargo aircraft and was a 49% partner in GSS. In 2007 Porter and Ager-Hanssen's GSS signed a 5-year contract with British Airways (BA) which at the time was described as the largest-ever freighter investment made by BA with total operating costs of over $1 billion. Porter and Ager-Hanssen controlled 51% of GSS through Riverdon Ltd.[66][67]

In 2007, FlyMe acquired a strategic minority stake in GSS with the plan to become the first airline in the world to produce low cost long haul flights from Scandinavia to US and Thailand.[67] Global Supply System was divested in 2009.

Ager-Hanssen and Porter continued to invest in the Leisure industry and acquired a strategic stake in one of the leading Scandinavian travel agencies and the publicly listed company Ticket and changed the board through an hostile takeover.[52][68] Ticket was divested in 2008.

Ager-Hanssen has had several investment's in the Telecom Industry. Among the more well known is his early investment in Glocalnet, which is today owned by Telenor Ager-Hanssen's Cognition invested MSEK 80 together with Brummer & Partner and Nomura. Main part of the placement, MSEK 50 out of MSEK 80 was done by Ager-Hanssen.[69][70] Later Ager-Hanssen sold his share in Glocalnet to Inter-Ikea.[71]

Other Telecom Investments held by Ager-Hanssen were among others Utfors, a broadband operator today also owned by Telenor, and investments in Tele2 as well as Millicom.

Gulf logo.

Ager-Hanssen invested in 2005 together with his business partner John Robert Porter in Nordic Oil. Nordic Oil was chaired by the founder and former CEO of Statoil, Arve Johnsen. The company aimed to expand both upstream and downstream.[72] Some of the asset of the company included 105 gas stations in Sweden branded Pump and a lubricant retail business in Scandinavia . In 2006 Nordic Oil signed a deal with the Hinduja Group to re-establish the Gulf brand to the Scandinavian Market with a plan to rebrand all of its gas station.[73] Ager-Hanssen and Porter divested the business in 2007.[74]