For nearly 160 years, our driving force has been to create new opportunities, to develop companies and people, and to contribute to a better society.
2026
Ratos returns to being a long-term investment company. With the launch of Strategy 2030, a new strategic direction and financial targets are introduced. The focus is on enhanced transparency, capital-efficient growth and maximum long-term shareholder value.
2018-2025
Strategy shifts towards building a business group. Ratos is structured as a group with distinct business areas that own and develop small and mid-sized Nordic companies through active and long-term ownership.
1980-2018
During this period, the strategy is continuously adjusted between listed and unlisted holdings. In 1995, Ratos is refocused as an investment company with solely listed assets, only to change course in 1999 and become a private equity company with a focus on majority ownership in unlisted companies.
1960
The Ragnar and Torsten Söderberg foundations are established. To date, they have together contributed approximately SEK 3bn to research and education in economics, medicine and law.
1954
Ratos takes the step into the public arena through a listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. With share capital of SEK 15m, Ratos is established as an investment company with a portfolio comprising both listed and unlisted holdings.
1947
Ratos is now formally established as an investment company. With a portfolio comprising both listed and unlisted holdings, the company begins to take on the role of active owner and steward that will come to define its operations for a long time to come.
1934
Three years after the death of Per Olof Söderberg, his sons Ragnar and Torsten take over the family business. They restructure the operations into a holding company and found Aktiebolaget Ratos, a name formed as an anagram of the brothers' first names. This marks the beginning of a journey towards more diversified company management.
1905
Söderberg & Haak is incorporated as a limited liability company.
1866
Per Olof Söderberg and Leonard Haak found Söderberg & Haak. The business grows to become Sweden's leading wholesaler of iron and steel, an industrial legacy that lives on to this day in the bridges and buildings that form part of Stockholm's skyline.
Tomorrow's value is built today
Part of Ratos's success is built on a willingness to change in step with a changing world. Our strategy and our holdings have evolved as opportunities and needs have arisen, and we have always sought to adapt to new challenges in the economic cycle and the market. The flexibility to reconsider and choose new paths when required has been a natural part of Ratos and a prerequisite for building long-term value. We want to continue realising new ideas by combining entrepreneurship with financial discipline and strong relationships. In this way, we achieve not only profitability, but also long-term shareholder value.