[Manual - How To]: How to Get off the Richs List [Source : Danish 'Economic Weeky Letter']

[John Hjorth]

1. The family feud

 

A look back at the top-20 list of the richest people or families in Denmark ten years ago tells the instructive story about the methods. Seven of the individuals or families who appeared on the top-20 list in 2014 are no longer in the top, and several of them are even out of the top-100 altogether. Method number 1 is probably also the most entertaining for many. Here, the method involves arguing and fighting over the money both inside and outside the courtrooms, so that the money eventually slowly disappears. In short, a method that can be called the "family feud". In 2014, the Færch family was ranked number 19 among the richest individuals or families. The following year they were completely out of the top 20 and then completely disappeared from the list. Over the years, the Færch dynasty has become the epitome of scandals on the hardwood floors in Denmark. The wealth history otherwise goes all the way back to 1869 and the founding of a tobacco factory in Holstebro and then a large plastics company. But the fights over the money have been going on for many years and were most recently trumpeted in public by leaked audio recordings from a podcast about the family dynasty, brought by the medium Frihedsbrevet. Dramatic family meetings are revealed here, where an adult daughter is heard saying to her mother: "You're putting a gun to my forehead". The podcast "Huset Færch" once again brings the drama of the wealthy family to life. For the entertainment of some. To the shame of others.

 

2. Start a bank

 

Method number 2 to fall off the top can be called "Start a bank". Niels Thorborg has made his money by renting out everything to customers who didn't want or want to spend the money on buying the things. In 2014, he was so successful with the company L'easy that he was comfortably placed as number 15 among the richest people in Denmark. In fact, he was in the top 20 right up until 2021, when he dropped out. However, he is still in the top-100. But a year before, he had had the good idea that he wanted to start a bank. It became Facit Bank. And it was expensive. In 2023 alone he had to write a check three times and send more money into the bank, and again in 2024 he had to pick up his pockets. And if the concept of starting a bank is too slow, Niels Thorborg knows another and quick method to add money - buy a football club. As the owner of the club OB, he almost decides himself how quickly he wants to get rid of the money. But love cannot be bought with money. This also applies in football.

 

3. Bet on the uncertain

 

Method 3 to leave the list with less money than when you entered the list, we can call "betting on something uncertain in the long term," also called the biotech industry. In 2014, the Gunnersen Harbo family was number 20 on the list of the 20 richest people or families in Denmark. Admittedly a last place in this context, but still in the top 20. The money came through the sale of the life work Dako in 2007 to a capital fund. The sale yielded proceeds of DKK 4.2 billion, and that money went into investment companies and, among other things, invested in several new life science adventures. Viggo Gunnersen Harboe has thus bought into a small diagnostic company Biostrip, which works in the same area of biomarkers that his father made billions from. But as everyone knows, that industry is precarious. The gains can be big, but they can also take a long time to come. The family dropped out of the top 20 the following year and then completely out of the top 100.

 

4. Give the money away

 

Method 4 can be aptly called "give the money away". This is the method that Winnie Liljeborg has used. However, fully aware and with open eyes. Winnie Liljeborg made several billions together with her husband and later her son by first selling more than half of the jewelery company Pandora to the capital fund Axcel and then listing the rest of the company on the stock market. Her fortune is placed in the holding company Liljeborg-Gruppen, and it is from here that she distributes money for charitable purposes with a focus on helping children and young people who are vulnerable, or in other ways live under difficult conditions, so that they have the opportunity to to thrive better socially, healthily and educationally and get better opportunities in life. In 2014, she was ranked number 16 in the top 20. A few years later she dropped out, but is still on the list of the 100 richest people. A quick way to get out of the list of the top 20 is of course also to "leave the country", so the values may also disappear in the dark. Winnie Liljeborg's ex-husband and son have thus done so. In 2014, they were number 11 on the top-20 list, which thus counted as many as three Pandora billionaires. But a few years later they were out, for the simple reason that they have moved to Thailand, where Pandora has production and employs several thousand people. And although all three of them are out of Pandora, today they have a so-called family office investment company together with the name North-East Group ApS.

 

5. Wait on Corona or a geopolitical crisis

 

A final but also safe method is to wait for a global pandemic. Martin Møller Nielsen with the company Nordic Aviation was a fixture on the top 20 list. But with the corona pandemic, the need to lease regional aircraft, which was the company's entire business basis, disappeared. The group came under reconstruction in the USA - in a so-called chapter 11 scheme - and when the company came out of this scheme, Martin Møller Nielsen was no longer with the company he himself had founded and led to become the world's largest lessor of regional aircraft. However, he is still on the top 100 list.' The Fleggaard family also used the same method. The family has been called Denmark's champions in cross-border sales to the Danes from their distinctive businesses just over the border. However, they were hit hard by Corona and the family fell out of the top 20. However, they are still in the top-100 and seem to be on their way up again. The Danes don't want to miss out on a good offer.

 

6. The day fly

 

A glance over the past ten years at the top-20 list also reveals a few individual day flies. Denmark has never really been a big IT country. We had Navision. And then we have Unity Technologies, a 3D platform for developing games that gained global success in an instant. In 2021, one of the three Danish founders, Joachim Ante, went directly to number 10, but already the following year he was completely out of the top 20 again, as the shares in the company had fallen dramatically in value. However, all three are still on the top 100 list. Also a daily fly in this context is Morten Hummelmose, who as a successful partner in the capital fund EQT achieved a place as number 19 in 2021, only to be out again the following year. This year he has proclaimed that, like Winnie Lijleborg, he will now spend more of his time and fortune on charity. He and his wife shoot at least half a billion. DKK in a new fund for that purpose. Finally, it can be stated, for those who might have ambitions to be considered for the list of the top 20 richest people or families in Denmark, that the entrance ticket has become more expensive. In 2014, it required only 3.8 billion. DKK in wealth to squeeze into place number 20. In 2023 it required a fortune of 12 billion DKK.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

The majority of wealthy Danes lay low and are shy of the lime light.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Source : Economic Weekly Letter [Danish : 'Økonomisk Ugebrev'] : Denmarks 100 Richest [p. 33 - 35]. [Unfortunately could Google Translate not handle the file, for reasons unknown to me.]

[Sweet]

1 hour ago, John Hjorth said:

we can call "betting on something uncertain in the long term," also called the biotech industry.

This made me laugh.  Good list John, won’t be starting a bank anytime soon.

[John Hjorth]

18 hours ago, Sweet said:

This made me laugh.  Good list John, won’t be starting a bank anytime soon.

 

Yes, @Sweet,

 

It was meant as entertaining for folks here on CoBF who do generally not need advice about what to do with their money - at all! - Simply because about all aspects of money, they are totally self-propelled and able tooption for the right solutions for them selves, based on a minimum of advice.

 

Then there is the language by financial reporters here in Denmark who all - as far as I know - educated journalists, but autodidact [self-taught] in accounting, finance, company law etc. and all that related stuff, and in that space very fast with a flat, horisontal learning curve, never really diving into something at depth, likely never reading a new book about anything. Result and outcome : Cursory, often flawed, written publiciced stuff by a financial media here in Denmark, based on ignorance, lack of knowledge, misconceptions, misunderstandings. And it's sold for money, and there are acually sufficient subscriptioners to suck it up, to the socall honorable business going!

 

It's now long time ago I have cut such Danish subsciptions for greener grass somewhere else, because it was waste of money.

 

Here, as first example the use of the word 'uncertainty'. It's so lame : One element of 'uncertainty' is actually 'potential' on upside, while the other is what we partially call 'risk' the permanent part of the possibily, the rest of it we call 'volability'.

 

The next example is the confusion of the the underlying causes and common denominators about 'investing in something 'uncertain'', and 'waiting on Corona or a geopolitical crisis'.  The true real common denominator for those are the concentration risks that founders and private company owners are willing to assume, simply because such a company percieved as 'an extra, special kid' which was not carried and popped by the owner, or the spouse, partner, whatever.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

But despite all that, the list produced is to me still interesting to study, even if it shall be taken with a grain of salt.

 

Luckily, we have a lot of good companies living 'under the radar' here in Denmark, to contribute to make the wheels go around here.