Ericsson chairman Treschow to quit

Ericsson chairman Michael Treschow will step down from the board in 2011 or 2012, the company announced Monday.

The 67-year-old Swedish businessman said it was “the right time to hand over to a successor after nine years in this position.”

Treschow was appointed chairman during the downturn following the bursting of the telecom and tech bubbles.

He said during his tenure he appointed two CEOs – Carl-Henric Svanberg in 2003 and Hans Vestberg in 2009 – and presided over the acquisition of Marconi, Redback, Tandberg Television and Nortel's CDMA, LTE and GSM businesses.

He said Ericsson was in a strong position, with net cash of 36.1 billion kronor (€4.0b) at year-end 2009 and sales of 206 billion kronor. The company has 40% of the mobile network market and 10% of the managed services market.

Treschow is also chairman of Unilever, a director of engineering firm ABB, and a former CEO and chairman of Swedish appliance group Electrolux.

The Ericsson board nomination committee, which is appointed by the biggest shareholders, will vote on a new chairman at the AGM in 2011 or 2012.

Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of Swedish investment firm Investor AB – Ericsson’s largest shareholder – chairs the nomination committee.