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norwAy
Höegh family
Driving change at Höegh
Cousins have restructured car carrier and LNG businesses
IT says something either about Norwegian society, or the
Höegh family, that one of them walks to work every day.
The Höegh family is a very reclusive one by all accounts,
taking a completely different approach to ownership to many
other families running businesses. For them standing in front
of the camera is something best left to the management.
Cousins Leif and Morten Höegh took over the family
business in 2003 and promptly brought all the company’s
outstanding shares and delisted it from the Oslo Exchange.
They then restructured it into two main businesses —
Höegh Autoliners, the car carrier business that was originally
a joint venture with Uglands from 1970 to 2000, and Höegh
LNG. Lief is chairman of Höegh Autoliners, while Morton
uS norwAy
thomas wilhelmsen
all’s well at Wilhelmsen
Thomas Wilhelmsen has earned his stripes at the Norwegian company
THOMAS Wilhelmsen cares about his staff, and the
continuation of the company’s good name. Run a a quiet
straw poll canvas of people in Oslo of what they think of the
Wilhelmsen name and brand and one gets the feeling that all
is well in the Wilh. Wilhelmsen camp.
Mr Wilhelmsen took control of the family-controlled, but
Oslo-listed business in the middle of the economic storm two
years ago, and he has done his best to remain upbeat and in
control. He holds two interlinked positions. He is chairman
of the board of Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA, the listed shipping
division, and is group chief executive of Wilh. Wilhelmsen
Holdings, the listed parent group that also owns Wilhelmsen
Maritime Services.
Norwegians do not readily care for a silver spoon approach
to family inheritance, and Mr Wilhelmsen has been made to
work his way round the family business, a unique bespoke
family apprenticeship that has meant he does not take the
business for granted. This in turn has earned him some
respect.
Ask Mr Wilhelmsen about his personal interests, and you
will get a short and sharp answer. Ask him about the business
and its developments and you get a clear, well considered
response.
is chairman of Höegh LNG, which was one of the early gas
carrier owners, building some of the first Moss-type tankers
in the early 1970s.
The high investment costs in the liquefied natural gas
market, especially given Höegh’s plans to expand into
floating regasification units in lieu of land-based terminals,
prompted the family business to re-list Höegh LNG on the
Oslo Exchange last year, with a 37% stake in the company
raising $120m.
Höegh Autoliners remains one of the major car carrier
businesses. It is now partly owned by AP Moller-Maersk.
The Danish operator sold its 12 car carriers to the Norwegian
business in return for a 37.5% stake.
Two generations:
Thomas with his
father Wilhelm
ScAndinAViA
The reshaping of the business in 2010 still left the family in
control. The family name has a good standing and while the
relisting may not have raised the volumes hoped for, it did
quite well given the market conditions. A weaker company
would probably not have tried such a scheme.
Mr Wilhelmsen has yet to make a big mark on the family
business, but he has plenty of time on his side in which to do
so. The general feeling is that he is a safe pair of hands and
that is more than can be said of many others in the shipping
business.
next generation 2012 27