Ivar Kreuger - The Building Contractor and His Innovations

The Building Contractor and His Innovations

In May 1908, Kreuger formed the construction firm Kreuger & Toll in Sweden with the engineer Paul Toll, at that time working for the construction company Kasper Höglund AB, and his cousin Henrik Kreüger, working at the faculty of civil engineering at KTH, as a consulting engineer for the company. In Germany, he formed the company Deutsche Kahneisengesellschaft together with a colleague from his time in America, Anders Jordahl.

The new way of constructing buildings was not fully accepted in Sweden at that time and in order to market the new technique, Kreuger held several lectures and wrote an illustrated article on the subject in a leading engineering magazine, Teknisk Tidskrift.

This new technology of constructing buildings was a success and the firm won several prestigious contracts, such as the construction of the Stockholm Olympic Stadium (1911–12); the foundation work for the new Stockholm City Hall (1912–13) and the department store NK (1913–14) in Stockholm. The chief engineer behind these advanced projects was Henrik Kreüger.

Innovation in the construction business also included a definite commitment to finish the building on time. Hitherto the financial risk of delays were assumed by the clients. Kreuger & Toll was the first firm in Europe to commit to finish projects by a fixed date, thus shifting the risk to the builder, who after all was in the best position to reduce delays. When Kreuger won the contract to build a six-story "skyscraper," he promised that if construction wasn't finished by a particular date Kreuger & Toll would give the client a partial refund of $1,200 (about $18,000 in today's currency )for each late day. It is noteworthy that Kreuger & Toll's entire capital would have covered just two days of being late. The client, in turn, agreed to pay a bonus for every day the building was finished before the due date. Kreuger & Toll finished early and subsequently earned completion bonuses for every project. Within a few years Kreuger & Toll was seen as the best building company in Sweden and one of the top firms in all of Europe.

Within six years after its incorporation, Kreuger & Toll earned annual profits of around $200,000 and was paying a substantial dividend of 15%. In 1917 the company was split into two separate companies: Kreuger & Toll Construction AB, with the majority of shares owned by Paul Toll. Ivar Kreuger was not among the board members in the construction company. How much of Paul Toll's company Ivar Kreuger owned has not been revealed—just that Paul Toll owned 60% in 1917 and, around 1930, 66% of the construction company. Kreuger & Toll Construction Co. has never shown up in any Kreuger & Toll Holding organisation charts.

Kreuger & Toll Holding became his financial holding company, with Ivar Kreuger as the general manager and major share holder. He controlled it with a tight grip. The board of directors consisted of Ivar, his father, Paul Toll and two very close colleagues.

After Ivar got involved in his father's match factories in Kalmar, he became more focused on “constructing” new companies or taking control of other corporations - usually paying with his own securities instead of cash - rather than buildings and bridges. Thus by 1927 Ivar had bought banks, mining companies, railways, timber and paper firms, film distributors, real estate in several European cities as well as a controlling stake in L.M. Ericsson & Co., Sweden's leading phone company. He controlled about 50% of the world market in iron ore and cellulose. He owned mines all over the world including the Boliden mine in Sweden, which had one of the richest gold deposits outside South Africa in addition to other minerals.

Kreuger formed Swedish Match by merging his father's business with other match factories he had quietly bought during World War I. Its initial capital was around $10 million (ca. $150 million in today's currency ) and Ivar owned about half of it, held all senior positions and controlled the board of directors.

The Swedish banker Oscar Rydbeck (1878–1951) became a close associate and an important teacher for Ivar in the financing business. He worked for Kreuger & Toll as a consultant from around 1912 until the Kreuger Crash in 1932 and was a member of its board of directors. For not having carried out his duties as a director he went to jail for 10 months after Ivar's death.