1.
Hansabank
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Hansabank was a bank operating in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania owned by the FöreningsSparbanken/Swedbank, a Swedish bank. Following a decision taken by the Swedbank group on 15 September 2008, the history of the Hansabank Group dates back to 1 July 1991 when Hansapank started operating as a branch of Tartu Kommertspank in Estonia. Officially Hansapank launched independent operations on 10 January 1992, Hansabank was founded in Estonia by Hannes Tamjärv, Jüri Mõis, Rain Lõhmus and Heldur Meerits. Among Hansabanks earliest American investors was international financier, Raymond Staples, through his holding company, TMP Holdings. The following year the bank set up its first subsidiary, AS Hansa Liising, in 1995 Hansabank also opened a branch in Riga, the capital of the neighbouring country Latvia and Hansa Liisings subsidiary, AS Hansa Leasing Latvia, was also launched. In 1996 Hansabank Group was formed and Hansabanks Latvian consumer banking was expanded through a merger with the German-Latvian Bank, in 1996, Hansabank established its presence in the largest of the Baltic states, Lithuania. Differently from Estonia and Latvia, the first company set up there was Hansa Leasing Lithuania, the year 1998 marks the period of mergers in the history of the bank. In April 1998, Hansabank merged with Eesti Hoiupank, in June 1998, the holding company of the Hansa Leasing Group, Hansa Capital, and Hoiupanga Liising signed a sales agreement. In September 1998, Hansabank Latvia and Hoiupanks Latvian subsidiary, Zemes Banka, the same year Swedish FöreningSparbanken obtained over 50 per cent of Hansabanks shares through a share issue. In 2005 Swedbank made an offer to the minority shareholders. In July 1999, Hansabanks Lithuanian subsidiary Hansabankas opened its doors to clients in Vilnius, on 10 March 2005 Hansabank successfully completed the acquisition of the Moscow-based OAO Kvest bank in Russia, which briefly operated under the Hansabank brand but has since been renamed Swedbank. Hansabank operates under the names, Hansapank, Hansabanka, Hansabankas, Source, Hansabanka Source, Hansabank Group The Swedish banking group Swedbank obtained 50% of the group shares in 1998. It now owns 100% of Hansabank, in the Baltic states, the main competitor of the Hansabank Group is the Swedish banking group SEB, which owns SEB Eesti Ühispank, SEB Unibanka and SEB Vilniaus bankas. Following the decision to rebrand the bank under the Swedbank name, the legal name of the bank changed in spring 2009, while the whole process of the brand change was completed by autumn 2009. Hanseatic League for historical basis of name, hansapanks homepage Hansabankas homepage Hansabankas homepage
2.
Aktiebolag
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Aktiebolag is the Swedish term for limited company or corporation. When used in names, it is abbreviated AB, Ab, or A/B, roughly equivalent to the abbreviations Ltd. The State authority responsible for registration of aktiebolag in Sweden is called the Swedish Companies Registration Office, all aktiebolag are divided into two categories, private limited companies and public limited companies. The name of a limited company may not contain the word publikt. A public limited company is legally denoted as AB in Sweden or Abp in Finland, a Swedish public limited company must have a minimum share capital of 500,000 Swedish kronor and its shares can be offered to the general public on the stock market. For a private limited company in Sweden, the share capital is 50,000 Swedish kronor. The main Swedish statutes regulating limited companies are The Companies Act, the law provisions in ABL stipulate that parent companies and subsidiaries are separate legal persons and legal entities. The abbreviation AB is seen in names such as IFS AB, MySQL AB, Mojang AB, Spotify AB. The term aktiebolag is also used in Finland Swedish, alongside the Finnish osakeyhtiö, the choice and ordering of terms tends to indicate the companys primary working language
3.
Ticker symbol
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A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both, ticker symbol refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker tape of a ticker tape machine. Stock symbols are unique identifiers assigned to each security traded on a particular market, for example, AAPL is for Apple Inc. OODH is for Orion DHC, Inc. and HD is for Home Depot, a stock symbol can consist of letters, numbers, or a combination of both, and is a way to uniquely identify that stock. The symbols were kept as short as possible to reduce the number of characters that had to be printed on the ticker tape, the allocation of symbols and formatting convention is specific to each stock exchange. In the US, for example, stock tickers are typically between 1 and 4 letters and represent the name where possible. In Europe, most exchanges use three-letter codes, for example Dutch consumer goods company Unilever traded on the Amsterdam Euronext exchange has the symbol UNA, while in Asia, numbers are often used as stock tickers to avoid issues for international investors when using non-Latin scripts. For example, the bank HSBCs stock traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has the ticker symbol 0005, symbols sometimes change to reflect mergers. Prior to the 1999 merger with Mobil Oil, Exxon used a spelling of the company XON as its ticker symbol. The symbol of the firm after the merger was XOM, symbols are sometimes reused, in the US the single-letter symbols are particularly sought after as vanity symbols. For example, since Mar 2008 Visa Inc. has used the symbol V that had previously used by Vivendi which had delisted. To fully qualify a stock, both the ticker and the exchange or country of listing needs to be known, on many systems both must be specified to uniquely identify the security. This is often done by appending the location or exchange code to the ticker, although stock tickers identify a security, they are exchange dependent, generally limited to stocks and can change. These limitations have led to the development of other codes in financial markets to identify securities for settlement purposes, the most prevalent of these is the International Securities Identifying Number. An ISIN uniquely identifies a security and its structure is defined in ISO6166, Securities for which ISINs are issued include bonds, commercial paper, stocks, and warrants. The ISIN identifies the security, not the exchange on which it trades, for instance, Daimler AG stock trades on twenty-two different stock exchanges worldwide, and is priced in five different currencies, it has the same ISIN on each, though not the same ticker symbol. ISIN cannot specify a particular trade in this case, and another identifier, following the introduction of the Sequence trading platform in 1996, EPICs were renamed Tradable Instrument Display Mnemonics, but they are still widely referred to as EPICs. Stocks can also be identified using their SEDOL number or their ISIN, in the United States, modern letter-only ticker symbols were developed by Standard & Poors to bring a national standard to investing
4.
Nasdaq Nordic
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Nasdaq Nordic is the common name for the subsidiaries of Nasdaq, Inc. that provide financial services and operate marketplaces for securities in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Historically, the operations have been known by the company name OMX AB, in 2015, the legal entity OMX AB was renamed Nasdaq AB, but it also operates under the alias Nasdaq OMX AB. The operations have been part of Nasdaq, Inc. since February 2008, OM AB was a futures exchange founded by Olof Stenhammar in the 1980s to introduce trading in standardized option contracts in Sweden. OM acquired the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1998 and unsuccessfully attempted acquisition of the London Stock Exchange in 2001, during the dot-com bubble in the early 21st century OM, together with investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, launched a virtual European stock exchange called Jiway. The project was not successful and was cancelled on 14 October 2002, on 3 September 2003 the Helsinki Stock Exchange merged with OM, and the joint company became OM HEX. On 31 August 2004, the name of the company was changed to OMX. OMX then acquired the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in January 2005 for €164 million, on 19 September 2006 the Iceland Stock Exchange owner Eignarhaldsfelagid Verdbrefathing announced it would be acquired by OMX in a deal valuing the company at 250 million SEK. The transaction was completed by the end of the year, the company took a 10% stake in Oslo Børs Holding ASA, the owner of the Oslo Stock Exchange in October 2006. As of September 2016, Nasdaq is not a shareholder in the Oslo Stock Exchange holding company. Nasdaq has, however, publicly stated its interest in acquiring the Oslo Stock Exchange. OMX acquired the Armenian Stock Exchange and Central Depository in November 2007, in December 2005 OMX started First North, an alternative exchange for smaller companies, in Denmark. The First North exchange expanded to Stockholm in June 2006, Iceland in January 2007, the Markets Technology division of Computershare was acquired in 2006. The acquisition greatly expanded its offerings and made its client list the largest of all trading system technology providers. The group launched a virtual Nordic Stock Exchange on 2 October 2006, companies listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange have also since been merged into the list. OMX also launched a pan-regional benchmark index, the OMX Nordic 40, on the same date, on 25 May 2007, NASDAQ agreed to buy OMX for US$3.7 billion. In August 2007, however, Borse Dubai offered US$4 billion, on 20 September 2007, Borse Dubai agreed to stop competing to buy OMX in return for a 20% stake and 5 percent of votes in NASDAQ as well as NASDAQs then 28% stake in the London Stock Exchange. In a complex transaction, Borse Dubai acquired 97. 2% of OMXs outstanding shares before selling them on to NASDAQ, the newly merged company was renamed the NASDAQ OMX Group upon completion of the deal on 27 February 2008. OMX is the leading provider of central securities depository technology
5.
Stockholm
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The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
6.
Retail banking
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Retail banking, also known as consumer banking, is the provision of services by a bank to individual consumers, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks. Services offered include savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, the term is generally used to distinguish these banking services from investment banking, commercial banking or wholesale banking. It may also be used to refer to a division or department of a bank dealing with retail customers, in the U. S. the term commercial bank is used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment bank. This separation was repealed in the 1990s, commercial bank can also refer to a bank or a division of a bank that mostly deals with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses, as opposed to individual members of the public. S. Private banks manage the assets of high-net-worth individuals, offshore banks are banks located in jurisdictions with low taxation and regulation. Many offshore banks are essentially private banks, postal savings banks are savings banks associated with national postal systems
7.
Mortgage loan
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The loan is secured on the borrowers property. Mortgage can also be described as a borrower giving consideration in the form of a collateral for a benefit, Mortgage borrowers can be individuals mortgaging their home or they can be businesses mortgaging commercial property. Features of mortgage loans such as the size of the loan, maturity of the loan, interest rate, method of paying off the loan, in many jurisdictions, it is normal for home purchases to be funded by a mortgage loan. Few individuals have enough savings or liquid funds to them to purchase property outright. In countries where the demand for ownership is highest, strong domestic markets for mortgages have developed. According to Anglo-American property law, a mortgage occurs when an owner pledges his or her interest as security or collateral for a loan. As with other types of loans, mortgages have an interest rate and are scheduled to amortize over a set period of time, typically 30 years. All types of property can be, and usually are, secured with a mortgage. Mortgage lending is the mechanism used in many countries to finance private ownership of residential and commercial property. Although the terminology and precise forms will differ from country to country, the components tend to be similar, Property. The exact form of ownership will vary from country to country, Mortgage, the security interest of the lender in the property, which may entail restrictions on the use or disposal of the property. Restrictions may include requirements to purchase insurance and mortgage insurance. Borrower, the person borrowing who either has or is creating an ownership interest in the property, lender, any lender, but usually a bank or other financial institution. Principal, the size of the loan, which may or may not include certain other costs, as any principal is repaid. Interest, a charge for use of the lenders money. Completion, legal completion of the deed, and hence the start of the mortgage. A closed mortgage account is said to be redeemed, many other specific characteristics are common to many markets, but the above are the essential features. Governments usually regulate many aspects of mortgage lending, either directly or indirectly, other aspects that define a specific mortgage market may be regional, historical, or driven by specific characteristics of the legal or financial system
8.
Earnings before interest and taxes
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In accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes, is a measure of a firms profit that includes all expenses except interest and income tax expenses. It is the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses, when a firm does not have non-operating income, then operating income is sometimes used as a synonym for EBIT and operating profit. To calculate EBIT, expenses are subtracted from revenues, net income is later obtained by subtracting interest and taxes from the result
9.
Swedish krona
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The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code SEK and currency sign kr are in use, the former precedes or follows the value. In English, the currency is referred to as the Swedish crown. The Swedish krona was the 11th most traded currency in the world by value in April 2013, one krona is subdivided into 100 öre. However, all öre coins have been discontinued as of 30 September 2010, goods can still be priced in öre, but all sums are rounded to the nearest krona when paying with cash. The introduction of the krona, which replaced at par the riksdaler, was a result of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which came into effect in 1876 and lasted until the beginning of World War I. The parties to the union were the Scandinavian countries, where the name was krona in Sweden and krone in Denmark and Norway, the three currencies were on the gold standard, with the krona/krone defined as 1⁄2480 of a kilogram of pure gold. After dissolution of the union in August 1914, Sweden, Denmark. On 11 September 2012, the Riksbank announced a new series of coins with new sizes to replace the 1 and 5 kronor coins which arrived in October 2016. The design of the coins follows the theme of singer-songwriter Ted Gärdestads song, Sol, vind och vatten and this also included the reintroduction of the 2 kronor coin, while the current 10 kronor coin remained the same. The new coins also have a new portrait of the king in the design, one of the reasons for a new series of coins is to end the use of nickel. It is expected that vending machines and parking meters will to a high degree stop accepting coins. Cash is already used in Sweden, with many young people avoiding cash as much as possible. Between 1873 and 1876, coins in denominations of 1,2,5,10,25, and 50 öre and 1,2,10, and 20 kronor were introduced. The 1,2 and 5 öre were in bronze, the 10,25,50 öre and 1 krona and 2 kronor were in silver, gold 5 kronor coins were added in 1881. In 1873 the Scandinavian Monetary Union currency was fixed so that 248,000 öre purchased 1 kg of gold, in 2017 the price of gold is 365,289 kronor per kg. So one öre in 1873 bought as much gold as 1.47 krona in 2017, so if it is reasonable to have the smallest denomination coin 1 krona today, in 1873 a reasonable smallest denomination coin was 1 öre. A10 kr gold coin weighed 4.4803 grams with 900 finess so that the weight was 4.03327 grams or exactly 1/248th of a kilogram
10.
Net income
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In business, net income is an entitys income minus cost of goods sold, expenses and taxes for an accounting period. In the context of the presentation of financial statements, the IFRS Foundation defines net income as synonymous with profit, net income is a distinct accounting concept from profit but the same as net profit. Net income can also be calculated by adding a companys operating income to non-operating income, net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings. As profit and earnings are used synonymously for income, net earnings, often, the term income is substituted for net income, yet this is not preferred due to the possible ambiguity. Net income is called the bottom line because it is typically found on the last line of a companys income statement. The items deducted will typically include tax expense, financing expense, likewise, preferred stock dividends will be subtracted too, though they are not an expense. For a merchandising company, subtracted costs may be the cost of goods sold, sales discounts, for a product company advertising, manufacturing, and design and development costs are included
11.
Asset
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In financial accounting, an asset is an economic resource. Anything tangible or intangible that can be owned or controlled to produce value, simply stated, assets represent value of ownership that can be converted into cash. The balance sheet of a firm records the value of the assets owned by that firm. It covers money and other valuables belonging to an individual or to a business, one can classify assets into two major asset classes, tangible assets and intangible assets. Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets, current assets include inventory, while fixed assets include such items as buildings and equipment. Intangible assets are resources and rights that have a value to the firm because they give the firm some kind of advantage in the marketplace. Examples of intangible assets include goodwill, copyrights, trademarks, patents and computer programs, an asset is a resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the entity. One of the most widely accepted accounting definitions of asset is the one used by the International Accounting Standards Board, employees are not considered assets like machinery is, even though they can generate future economic benefits. This is because an entity does not have sufficient control over its employees to satisfy the Frameworks definition of an asset, similarly, in economics an asset is any form in which wealth can be held. The accounting equation is the structure of the balance sheet. It relates assets, liabilities, and owners equity, Assets = Liabilities + Capital Liabilities = Assets − Capital Equity = Assets − Liabilities Assets are listed on the balance sheet. On a companys balance sheet certain divisions are required by generally accepted accounting principles, Assets can be divided into e. g. current assets and fixed assets, often with further subdivisions such as cash, receivables and inventory. Assets are formally controlled and managed within larger organizations via the use of asset tracking tools and these monitor the purchasing, upgrading, servicing, licensing, disposal etc. of both physical and non-physical assets. Current assets are cash and other assets expected to be converted to cash or consumed either in a year or in the operating cycle and these assets are continually turned over in the course of a business during normal business activity. There are 5 major items included into current assets, Cash and cash equivalents – it is the most liquid asset, which includes currency, deposit accounts, short-term investments – include securities bought and held for sale in the near future to generate income on short-term price differences. Receivables – usually reported as net of allowance for non-collectable accounts, inventory – trading these assets is a normal business of a company. The inventory value reported on the sheet is usually the historical cost or fair market value. This is known as the lower of cost or market rule, prepaid expenses – these are expenses paid in cash and recorded as assets before they are used or consumed
12.
Equity (finance)
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In accounting, equity is the difference between the value of the assets and the value of the liabilities of something owed. Equity can be negative if liabilities exceeds assets, shareholders equity represents the equity of a company as divided among shareholders of common or preferred stock. Negative shareholders equity is often referred to as a shareholders deficit, alternatively, equity can also refer to the capital stock of a corporation. The value of the stock depends on the future economic prospects. For a company in liquidation proceedings, the equity is that which remains after all liabilities have been paid, when starting a business, the owners fund the business to finance various operations. Throughout the businesss existence, the equity of the business will be the difference between its assets and debt liabilities, this is the accounting equation, when a business liquidates during bankruptcy, the proceeds from the assets are used to reimburse creditors. The creditors are ranked by priority, with secured creditors being paid first, other creditors being paid next, owners equity is this remaining or residual claim against assets, which is paid only after all other creditors are paid. In such cases where even creditors could not get money to pay their bills. In financial accounting, owners equity consists of the net assets of an entity, net assets is the difference between the total assets and total liabilities. Equity appears on the sheet, one of the four primary financial statements. The assets of an entity can be tangible and intangible items. Intangible assets include such as brand names, copyrights or goodwill. Tangible assets include land, equipment, and cash, issue of new equity in which the firm obtains new capital increases the total shareholders equity. Share repurchases, in which a firm returns money to investors, reducing on the side its financial assets. For practical purposes, share repurchasing is similar to a dividend payment, rather than giving money to all shareholders immediately in the form of a dividend payment, a share repurchase reduces the number of shares outstanding. Dividends paid out to preferred stock owners are considered an expense to be subtracted from net income, sometimes assets bought and held in other countries get translated back into the reporting currency at different exchange rates, resulting in a changed value. When the owners are shareholders, the interest can be called shareholders equity, the remains the same. If all shareholders are in one and the class, they share equally in ownership equity from all perspectives
13.
Swedbank (Ukraine)
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Open Joint Stock Company Swedbank is a Ukrainian bank in the Swedish Swedbank Group. It was registered at the National Bank of Ukraine in 1991 under the name AKB TAS-Komerzbank and this bank was acquired by the Swedbank Group in mid-2007 and renamed to Swedbank in December 2007. Currently this bank has 190 offices all over Ukraine
14.
Nordic countries
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The Nordic countries or Nordics are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden. They consist of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, the population of the Nordic countries are mainly Scandinavian or Finnish, with Greenlandic Inuit and the Sami people as minorities. Of todays native languages, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, the non-Germanic languages spoken are Finnish, Greenlandic and several Sami languages. The main religion is Lutheran Christianity, the Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, history, their use of Scandinavian languages and social structure. Politically, Nordic countries do not form an entity. Especially in English, Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries, Scandinavian Peninsula on the other hand covers mainland Norway and Sweden as well as the northernmost part of Finland. At 3,425,804 square kilometers, the area of the Nordic countries would form the 7th-largest country in the world. Uninhabitable icecaps and glaciers comprise about half of area, mostly in Greenland. In January 2013, the region had a population of around 26 million people, the Nordic countries cluster near the top in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. Although the area is linguistically heterogeneous, with three unrelated groups, the common linguistic heritage is one of the factors making up the Nordic identity. The North Germanic languages Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are considered mutually intelligible and these languages are taught in school throughout the Nordic countries. Swedish, for example, is a subject in Finnish schools. Danish is mandatory in Faroese and Greenlandic schools, as these states are a part of the Danish Realm. Iceland also teaches Danish, since Iceland too was a part of the Danish Realm until 1918, there is a high degree of income redistribution and little social unrest. The Nordic countries consists of historical territories of the Scandinavian countries, areas that share a common history and it is meant unambiguously to refer to this larger group, since the term Scandinavia is narrower and sometimes ambiguous. The Nordic countries are considered to unambiguously refer to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The term is derived indirectly from the local term Norden, used in the Scandinavian languages, unlike the Nordic countries, the term Norden is in the singular. The demonym is nordbo, literally meaning northern dweller, especially outside of the Nordic region the term Scandinavia is often used incorrectly as a synonym for the Nordic countries
15.
Baltic states
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The Baltic states cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations. While the native populations of Latvia and Lithuania are known as Baltic people, another Baltic identity, Baltic German, began to develop during the Middle Ages after the Livonian Crusade. After the collapse of Livonia, parts of Latvia and Estonia came under influence of the Commonwealth and this lasted until the 18th century, when the lands of all three modern countries were gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire. The Baltic states gained independence after World War I, but were occupied by the Soviet Union during World War II, all three countries are members of the European Union, NATO and the Eurozone. They are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain high Human Development Index, Estonia and Latvia are also members of the OECD, while Lithuania is a prospective candidate. The term Baltic stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to the 11th century, although there are several theories about its origin, most ultimately trace it to Indo-European root *bhel meaning white, fair. This meaning is retained in modern Baltic languages, where baltas, however the modern names of the region and the sea, that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century. In English Ost is East, and in fact, the Baltic Sea mostly lies to the east of Germany, Denmark, Norway, in the 13th century pagan Baltic and Finnic peoples in the region became a target of the Northern Crusades. In the aftermath of the Livonian crusade, a crusader state officially named Terra Mariana and it was divided into four autonomous bishoprics and lands of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. After the Brothers of the Sword suffered defeat at the Battle of Saule, Northern Estonia initially became a Danish dominion, but it was purchased by the Teutonic Order in the mid-14th century. The Lithuanians were also targeted by the crusaders, however they were able to resist and it allied with the Kingdom of Poland. After the Union of Krewo in 1385 created a union between the two countries, they became ever more closely integrated and finally merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. After victory in the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, the Polish–Lithuanian union became a political power in the region. In 1558 Livonia was attacked by the Tsardom of Russia and the Livonian war broke out, the rulers of different regions within Livonia sought to ally with foreign powers, which resulted in Polish–Lithuanian, Swedish and Danish involvement. In the aftermath of conflicts of the 17th century, much of the Duchy of Livonia. These newly acquired Swedish territories, as well as Ingria and Kexholm, at the beginning of the 18th century the Swedish Empire was attacked by a coalition of several European powers in the Great Northern War. Among these powers was Russia, seeking to restore its access to the Baltic Sea, during the course of the war it conquered all of the Swedish provinces on the Eastern Baltic coast. This acquisition was legalized by the Treaty of Nystad in which the Baltic Dominions were ceded to Russia, under Russian rule these territories came to be known as Ostsee Governorates
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Asset management
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Asset management, broadly defined, refers to any system that monitors and maintains things of value to an entity or group. It may apply to both tangible assets such as buildings and to intangible assets such as capital, intellectual property. Asset management is a process of deploying, operating, maintaining, upgrading. The term is most commonly used in the world to describe people. These include, for example, investment managers that manage the assets of a pension fund, the most common usage of the term asset manager refers to investment management, the sector of the financial services industry that manages investment funds and segregated client accounts. An asset management is a part of a company which comprises experts who manage money. Operating and sustainment of assets in a constrained budget environment require a prioritization scheme, as a way of illustration, the recent development of renewable energy has seen the rise of effective asset managers involved in the management of solar systems. These teams are more and more teaming-up with financial asset managers in order to offer turn key solutions to investors. Software asset management is one kind of asset management. It is related to asset health management, infrastructure asset management expands on this theme in relation primarily to public sector, utilities, property and transport systems. An example in which public asset management is used is land-use development, an EAM requires an asset registry combined with a computerized maintenance management system. All public assets are interconnected and share proximity, possible through the use of information systems. A GIS platform combined with information of both the hard and soft assets helps to remove the traditional silos of structured municipal functions, the GIS platform is only an assisting tool, asset managers need to make informed decisions about their assets in order to fulfill their organizational goals. List of asset management firms P2P Asset Management Robo-advisor Baird, G, defining Public Asset Management for Municipal Water Utilities. Journal American Water Works Association May 2011,103,5,30, www. awwa. org
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Gothenburg
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Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city has a population of approximately 550,000 in the urban area, Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At a key location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavias largest drainage basin enters the sea. Gothenburg is home to students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927, the original, parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca, Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport 30 km southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport,15 km from the city center, was closed to airline traffic in 2015. The city hosts some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia, the Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a variety of music festivals are held in the city, such as Way Out West. The city was named after the Geats, the inhabitants of Gothia, the river on which the city sits is the Göta älv or Gothia River. Göta borg Gothia Fortress is the fort on the Göta Älv, in Dutch, Scots, and English, all languages with a long history in this trade and maritime-oriented city, the name Gothenburg is used for the city. The French form of the city name is Gothembourg, but in French texts, Gothenburg can also be seen in some older English texts. In Spanish the city is called Gotemburgo and these traditional forms are sometimes replaced with the use of the Swedish Göteborg, for example by The Göteborg Opera and the Göteborg Ballet. However, Göteborgs universitet, previously designated as the Göteborg University in English, the Gothenburg municipality has also reverted to the use of the English name in international contexts. Other old variations in Swedish are Götheborgh, and the more common Götheborg, one English text, written in the late 15th century, states the name as Guthaeborg. In 2009, the city launched a new logotype for Gothenburg. Since the name Göteborg contains the Swedish letter ö the idea was to make the more international. As of 2015, the name is spelled Go, teborg on a number of signs in the city
18.
Stockholm Stock Exchange
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The Stockholm Stock Exchange, operating under the name Nasdaq Stockholm, is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries, more than 300 companies have been listed for trading. The Stockholm Stock Exchange was acquired by futures exchange OM in 1998, after OM merged with the Helsinki Stock Exchange to form what is now OMX in 2003, the Stockholm and Helsinki exchanges operations were merged. Since 2008, the Stockholm Stock Exchange has been part of Nasdaq, Inc. as of October 2014, the exchange operated under the legal name Nasdaq OMX Stockholm AB. Prior to the introduction of electronic trading on 1 June 1990 and its normal trading sessions are from 09, 00am to 05, 30pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance. Q22004 Number of companies 310 Market capitalization SEK2.521 trillion Membership list List of companies of Sweden Official site
19.
Automated teller machine
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According to the ATM Industry Association, there are now close to 3 million ATMs installed worldwide. Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number which must match the PIN stored in the chip on the card or in the financial institutions database. Using an ATM, customers can access their deposit or credit accounts in order to make a variety of transactions such as cash withdrawals, check balances. If the currency being withdrawn from the ATM is different from that in which the account is denominated the money will be converted at an official exchange rate. Thus, ATMs often provide the best possible exchange rates for foreign travellers, the idea of out-of-hours cash distribution developed from bankers needs in Asia, Europe and North America. Little is known of the Japanese device other than it was called Computer Loan Machine, the device was operational in 1966. In the US patent record, Luther George Simjian has been credited with developing a prior art device, specifically his 132nd patent, which was first filed on 30 June 1960. The roll-out of this machine, called Bankograph, was delayed by a couple of years, an experimental Bankograph was installed in New York City in 1961 by the City Bank of New York, but removed after six months due to the lack of customer acceptance. The Bankograph was an automated envelope deposit machine and did not have cash dispensing features and it is widely accepted that the first ATM was put into use by Barclays Bank in its Enfield Town branch in north London, United Kingdom, on 27 June 1967. This machine was inaugurated by English comedy actor Reg Varney and this instance of the invention is credited to the engineering team led by John Shepherd-Barron of printing firm De La Rue, who was awarded an OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours. Shepherd-Barron stated, It struck me there must be a way I could get my own money, I hit upon the idea of a chocolate bar dispenser, but replacing chocolate with cash. The Barclays-De La Rue machine beat the Swedish saving banks and a company called Metiors machine by a nine days. The online version of the Swedish machine is listed to have been operational on 6 May 1968, the collaboration of a small start-up called Speytec and Midland Bank developed a fourth machine which was marketed after 1969 in Europe and the US by the Burroughs Corporation. The patent for this device was filed on September 1969 by John David Edwards, Leonard Perkins, John Henry Donald, Peter Lee Chappell, Sean Benjamin Newcombe & Malcom David Roe. Both the DACS and MD2 accepted only a token or voucher which was retained by the machine while the Speytec worked with a card with a magnetic stripe at the back. They used principles including Carbon-14 and low-coercivity magnetism in order to make more difficult. The idea of a PIN stored on the card was developed by a British engineer working on the MD2 named James Goodfellow in 1965, the essence of this system was that it enabled the verification of the customer with the debited account without human intervention. This patent is also the earliest instance of a complete currency dispenser system in the patent record and this patent was filed on 5 March 1968 in the US and granted on 1 December 1970
20.
Karlskrona
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Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County, Karlskrona is known as Swedens only baroque city and is host to Swedens only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the Swedish Coast Guard. The city of Karlskrona is spread over 30 islands in the part of Blekinge archipelago. Other populated mentionable islands are Saltö, Sturkö, Hästö, Långö, the islet of Stumholmen was formerly property of the Navy and today it houses the National Naval Museum. Outside the city lies the archipelago of Karlskrona, the most southern of the Swedish archipelagos, several islands are connected to the city by ferries. The city was founded in 1680 when the Royal Swedish Navy was relocated from the Stockholm area to the Trossö island which had up until then been used chiefly for farming and grazing. The Swedish fleet tended to get stuck in the ice during winter while located close to Stockholm and was moved south. The island had a strategic position with short sailing distances to the German. The city name means Karls Crown in honour of King Karl XI of Sweden, the city grew quickly and by 1750 Karlskrona had about 10,000 inhabitants. It was then one of the biggest cities in the country, most of the baroque buildings from this era are still standing, which is why the city centre is architecturally uniform. The shipyard in Karlskrona was established almost at the time as the city. It was a necessity because of the losses the Swedish navy had suffered in 1659. In 1711, the shipyard was Swedens largest industrial employer with 1,100 workers, the oldest dock, the Polhem dock, is cut in the cliff itself and is still in use. It got its name from Christopher Polhem, there is also a historical rope making factory, Repslagarbanan, that is now open for guided tour. The city has kept its street structure since its foundation, since the streets all follow a grid pattern the winds can blow freely from the sea right into the heart of the city. Parts of the city have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in October 1981 the Whiskey-class Soviet submarine S-363 ran aground in the archipelago near Sturkö just outside Karlskrona. The media characterized it as the Whiskey on the Rocks affair, the incident caused a temporary rise in tensions between Sweden and the Soviet Union. While the submarines grounding was inadvertent, and likely the result of inebriation among the crew, the most important day in Karlskrona is the day before midsummers eve
21.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
22.
Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
23.
Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language
24.
Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
25.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
26.
Luxembourg
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Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held
27.
Marbella
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Marbella is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the region, Marbella is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, between Málaga and the Strait of Gibraltar, in the foothills of the Sierra Blanca. The municipality covers an area of 117 square kilometres crossed by highways on the coast, in 2012 the population of the city was 140,473 inhabitants, making it the second most populous municipality in the province of Málaga and the eighth in Andalusia. It is one of the most important tourist cities of the Costa del Sol and throughout most of the year is an international tourist attraction, due mainly to its climate and tourist infrastructure. The city also has a significant archaeological heritage, several museums and performance spaces, and a cultural calendar with events ranging from reggae concerts to opera performances. Due to the proximity of the mountains to the coast, the city has a gap between its north and south sides, thus providing views of the sea and mountain vistas from almost every part of the city. The coastline is heavily urbanised, most of the land not built up with golf courses has been developed with residential areas. Marbella is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Istán and Ojén, on the northwest by Benahavís, on the west by Estepona, the Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. There are five units, the Sierra Blanca, the Sierra Blanca piedmont, the lower hill country, the plains. The Sierra Blanca is most centrally located in the province, looming over the old village, Marbellas topography is characterised by extensive coastal plains formed from eroded mountains. After the plain lies an area of higher elevations of between 100 and 400 m, occupied by low hills, behind which rise the foothills, the coast is generally low and sandy beaches that are more extensive further east, between the fishing port and the Cabopino. Despite the intense urbanisation of the coast, it retains a natural area of dunes at the eastern end of town. The entire region lies within the Andalusian Mediterranean Basin, the rivers are short and have very steep banks, so that flash floods are common. These include the Guadalmina, the Guadaiza, the Verde and the Rio Real, the irregularity of rainfall has resulted in intermittent rivers that often run dry in summer, most of the many streams that cross the city have been bridged. Marbella is protected on its side by the coastal mountains of the Cordillera Penibética. The highest peaks of the mountains are covered with snow. Average rainfall is 628 l/m², while hours of sunshine average 2,900 annually. The fauna is represented by golden eagles, Bonellis eagles, short-toed eagles, hawks, falcons, vultures, genets or musk cats, badgers, wild goats, deer, martens, foxes and rabbits
28.
Oslo
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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality, founded in the year 1040, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814, after being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored. Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway, the city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the worlds largest shipping companies, shipbrokers. Oslo is a city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme. Oslo is considered a city and ranked Beta World City in studies carried out by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. It was ranked one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, as of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the citys urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an population of 1.71 million. The population was during the early 2000 increasing at record rates and this growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing faster than the Norwegian population. As of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, the urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, the total population of this agglomeration is 942,084. To the north and east, wide forested hills rise above the city giving the location the shape of a giant amphitheatre. The urban municipality of Oslo and county of Oslo are two parts of the entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated
29.
Scania
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Scania, also known by its local name Skåne, is the southernmost province of Sweden which consists of a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian Peninsula and some islands close to it. Scania is roughly equivalent to the modern Skåne County, the responsibility for overseeing implementation of state policy in the county is administered by the County Administrative Board. Within Scania there are 33 municipalities that are independent and separate from the Scania Regional Council which has its seat in Kristianstad, the largest city is Malmö, which is also the third largest city in Sweden. To the north, Scania borders the provinces of Halland and Småland, to the northeast Blekinge, to the east and south the Baltic Sea and Bornholm island, since 2000 a road and railway bridge, the Øresund Bridge, bridges the sound to the Danish island of Zealand. The HH Ferry route across the part of Øresund also remains as an important link between the Scandinavian Peninsula and Zealand. Scania is part of the transnational Øresund Region, Scania was part of the kingdom of Denmark up until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The transition to Sweden was later confirmed by the 1660 Treaty of Copenhagen, the 1679 Peace of Lund, the last serious Danish attempt to invade the province failed in 1710, after the Battle of Helsingborg. The period 1658–1720 saw widespread violence by the Swedish militaries against the local population, the same was also true about the Danish military, though to a far lesser extent. The region did not form part of Sweden proper until 1720 and it was then divided in two counties and has since then been regarded as fully integrated in Sweden. Until the early 19th century, a policy of forced assimilation was employed by the Swedish government in what then had been a linguistically Danish region. Controversy relating to whether the Scanian dialects should be classified as a language or as Danish or Swedish dialects remains to this day. From north to south Scania is around 130 kilometres and covers less than 3% of Swedens total area, about 16% of Scanias population is foreign-born. With 120 inh/km2 Scania is the second most densely populated province of Sweden, the western part, along the coast of the Øresund, is by far the most populated part. The endonym used in Swedish and other North Germanic languages is Skåne, the Latinized form Scania occurs especially in British English as an exonym. Scania is the only Swedish province for which exonyms are still used in many languages, e. g. French Scanie, Dutch and German Schonen, Polish Skania, Spanish Escania, Italian Scania. For the provinces modern administrative counterpart, Skåne län, the endonym Skåne is used in English, in the Alfredian translation of Orosiuss and Wulfstans travel accounts, the Old English form Sconeg appears. The names Scania and Scandinavia are considered to have the same etymology, the name is possibly derived from the Germanic root *Skaðin-awjã, which appears in Old Norse as Skáney. According to some scholars, the Germanic stem can be reconstructed as *Skaðan- meaning danger or damage, Skanör in Scania, with its long Falsterbo reef, has the same stem combined with -ör, which means sandbanks
30.
Board of directors
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A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a corporation or organization, which can include a non-profit organization or a government agency. A board of directors activities are determined by the powers, duties and responsibilities conferred on it by an authority outside itself and these matters are typically detailed in regulations or in the organizations constitution and bylaws. These authorities may specify the number of members of the board, how they are to be chosen, and how often they are to meet. In an organization with voting members, the board is accountable to, and might be subordinate to, the full membership. In a stock corporation, non-executive directors are voted for by the shareholders, the board of directors appoints the chief executive officer of the corporation and sets out the overall strategic direction. In corporations with dispersed ownership, the identification and nomination of directors are often done by the board itself, in a non-stock corporation with no general voting membership, the board is the supreme governing body of the institution, its members are sometimes chosen by the board itself. Other names include Board of directors and advisors, board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees and it may also be called the executive board and is often simply referred to as the board. For companies with publicly trading stock, these responsibilities are typically much more rigorous, typically, the board chooses one of its members to be the chairman, who holds whatever title is specified in the bylaws or articles of association. However, in organizations, the members elect the president of the organization. The directors of an organization are the persons who are members of its board, several specific terms categorize directors by the presence or absence of their other relationships to the organization. An inside director is a director who is also an employee, officer, chief executive, major shareholder, inside directors represent the interests of the entitys stakeholders, and often have special knowledge of its inner workings, its financial or market position, and so on. Executive directors often have an area of responsibility in the organization, such as finance, marketing, human resources. An outside director is a member of the board who is not otherwise employed by or engaged with the organization, a typical example is a director who is president of a firm in a different industry. Outside directors are not employees of the company or affiliated with it in any other way, outside directors bring outside experience and perspectives to the board. One of the arguments for having outside directors is that they can keep a eye on the inside directors. Outside directors are unlikely to tolerate insider dealing between insider directors, as outside directors do not benefit from the company or organization, outside directors are often useful in handling disputes between inside directors, or between shareholders and the board. They are thought to be advantageous because they can be objective, director - a person appointed to serve on the board of an organization, such as an institution or business. This practice results in an interlocking directorate, where a small number of individuals have significant influence over a large number of important entities
31.
Nordea
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Nordea Bank AB, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in Northern Europe. The Baltic_states are today considered part of the home market. The largest share holder of Nordea is Sampo, a Finnish insurance company with around 20% of the shares, Nordea is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, Helsinki Stock Exchange and Stockholm Stock Exchange. Nordea unified its headquarters to be in Stockholm, although operates across both the Nordic and Baltic regions with over 1,400 branches, Nordea currently serves 11 million private and 700,000 active corporate customers. The group also operates a bank, which has more than 5.9 million online customers doing more than 260 million payments per year. The name Nordea comes from the Swedish bank Nordbanken, which was based on PK-banken which in 1990 purchased the private bank Nordbanken. PK-banken was formed in 1974 at a merger between Postbanken and Sveriges Kreditbank, both state owned, merita Bank was a 1995 merger of the former main rivals in Finland, the originally Svecoman Union Bank of Finland founded in 1842 and the Fennoman National Share Bank founded in 1889. The private Nordbanken was formed in 1986 at a merger between two private local banks, Uplandsbanken and Sundsvallsbanken. In 1991 the Swedish banking crisis, resulting from deregulated markets, bad debts were transferred to the asset-management companies Securum and Retriva which sold off the assets. Nordea is owned by, Sampo,21. 3% Nordea Fonden,3. 9% Swedbank Robur Funds,3. 3% AMF Insurance and Funds,2. 1% Nordea Markets is the international markets operation of Nordea. It handles a broad range of investment banking products and services including fixed income, currencies, commodities, equities, debt capital markets and it also supplies advisory services and internationally acknowledged economic research and analysis. There are approximately 2,200 employees including Financial Risk Control and its main operational centres are in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm, and with regional offices also in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Singapore and USA. In 2007 Nordea was the subject of a phishing scam. The amount of money involved was between seven and eight million SEK, the theft was perpetrated by targeting Nordea customers with phishing emails containing a trojan horse, that was especially made for this robbery. Apparently these emails were sent out over a period of 15 months, according to Nordea, at least 250 people had unwittingly installed the trojan. The thieves evaded detection by limiting their transfers to small sums, the Nordea section in Luxemburg has in the years 2004-2014 founded nearly 400 offshore companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands for their customers. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has pointed out that theres serious deficiencies in how Nordea monitors money laundering and has given the bank two warnings, in 2015 Nordea had to pay the largest possible fine - over 5 million EUR. In 2012 Nordea asked Mossack Fonseca to change documents retroactively so that three Danish customers power of attorney documents had been in force since 2010, the director for Nordea Private banking Thorben Sanders admits that before 2009 they didnt screen for customers that tried to evade tax
32.
Handelsbanken
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Handelsbanken is one of the major banks in Sweden with over 460 branches. Since the mid 1990s Handelsbanken has been expanding its universal banking operations into the other Nordic countries, and also in the United Kingdom, the largest of these is in Britain where, as of April 2016, it has 207 branches. Stockholms Handelsbank was created in early 1871 by several large corporations, Handelsbanken began operating July 1,1871 in rented space in the commercial and financial district in the central Old Town. The banks first year was successful and soon, it was one of the citys leading financial institutions, functioning as a bank for businesses. In 1873, the shares in Handelsbanken were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, in 1887, the bank entered into a crisis due to considerable losses, but was able to pull through. In 1893, the company of Louis Frænckel was fused with Stockholms Handelsbank. Under Frænckels tenure, which lasted until his death in 1911 and it also developed contacts with many leading foreign banks and financial institutions, which led to the buildup of trading activities in foreign currencies. The merge of the Julius Geber & Co banking company into Handelsbanken in 1906 contributed to its prominence in the Swedish foreign exchange market. In 1918, new branches were opened in Gothenburg and Malmö to get better national coverage, and in 1919, a bank in southern Sweden was bought, after this expansion, the name was changed to Svenska Handelsbanken on 15 November 1919. Following the post–World War I recession, Sweden experienced deflation, which caused problems for the financial sector. The second half of the 1920s were much better times for the bank, in 1926, Mälarebanken was fused into Handelsbanken, bringing the number of branch offices to 270, of which 28 in Stockholm. Handelsbanken had however been cautious in their relation to Ivar Kreuger, Handelsbanken did however expand its ownership in Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget as a result of the crash. The company was named Industrivärden, and after the shareholders had been given the opportunity to acquire shares in the holding company. Handelsbanken continued to expand by purchasing other banks in the 1940s and 1950s - Vänersborgsbanken, Norrköpings Folkbank, Luleå Folkbank, the mortgage company SIGAB was acquired in 1955 and renamed to Handelsbanken Hypotek. In the 1955 to 1965 period,157 new branch offices were opened, many of these in the newly built suburbs of Stockholm, in order to increase the number of customers and to expand deposits. Towards the end of the 1960s, the Swedish society saw increased socialist sentiments and this was particularly strong among students and other youth, and banks and industrialists in general were portrayed in a very negative way. During this time, Handelsbanken was also the subject of criticism from media and authorities. The resulting crisis led to the resignation of the banks management, after the resignation of the previous management, Jan Wallander was recruited as the banks new CEO
33.
SEB Group
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Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, abbreviated SEB, is a Swedish financial group for corporate customers, institutions and private individuals with headquarters in Stockholm. Its activities comprise mainly banking services, but SEB also carries out significant life insurance operations, the bank was founded and is controlled by the Swedish Wallenberg family through their investment company Investor AB. In 1972, Stockholms Enskilda Bank and Skandinaviska Banken merged to form SEB, reasons for the merger included creating a bank better positioned to serve corporate clients and to fend off competition from major international banks. SEB acquired Swedish insurance company Trygg-Hansa in 1997, and integrated its life insurance activities, the property and casualty insurance portion of Trygg-Hansa was later sold. In 1998, the changed its logo and brand name from SE-Banken to SEB. At the end of same year, SEB bought its first shares of the three Baltic banks Eesti Ühispank, Latvijas Unibank and Vilniaus Bankas. In 2000, SEB acquired Germany’s Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft and the parts of the three Baltic banks. In early 2001, the announced plans for a merger with the FöreningsSparbanken. After several years of profitability, SEB sold its German retail banking operations to Spains Banco Santander in January 2011. SEB sold its banking operations in Ukraine to Eurobank Group in June 2012. In Sweden and the Baltic countries, SEB is a bank, offering financial advice. In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Germany the bank’s operations have a focus on a full-service offering to corporate. SEB also have branches or representative offices in New York, São Paulo, London, Luxembourg, Geneva, Warsaw, Moscow, St Petersburg, Kiev, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Delhi. SEB serves 3,000 corporate and institutional customers,400,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, since January 2016, the company is operating through four business divisions, Large Corporates & Financial Institutions, Corporate & Private Customers, Life & Investment Management and Baltic. Since 2009, SEB has published a separate corporate sustainability report in line with Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, SEB is also committed to global initiatives such as the United Nation’s Global Compact, the principles for responsible investments, and the Equator principles. Since 2011, SEB has published sector policies for the energy, arms & defence, shipping, mining & metals, fossil fuel. In addition, the company has position statements regarding climate change, freshwater, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken A/S SEB Pank SEB AG SEB Banka SEB bankas SEB Corporate Bank SEB Bank SEB SA Official website Yahoo. - Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB Company Profile
34.
European Commission
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Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commission operates as a government, with 28 members of the Commission. There is one member per state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the Commission President proposed by the European Council, the current Commission is the Juncker Commission, which took office in late 2014. The procedural languages of the Commission are English, French and German, the Members of the Commission and their cabinets are based in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The first Commission originated in 1951 as the nine-member High Authority under President Jean Monnet, the High Authority was the supranational administrative executive of the new European Coal and Steel Community. It took office first on 10 August 1952 in Luxembourg, in 1958 the Treaties of Rome had established two new communities alongside the ECSC, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. However their executives were called Commissions rather than High Authorities, the reason for the change in name was the new relationship between the executives and the Council. Some states such as France expressed reservations over the power of the High Authority, louis Armand led the first Commission of Euratom. Walter Hallstein led the first Commission of the EEC, holding the first formal meeting on 16 January 1958 at the Château of Val-Duchesse, Hallstein notably began the consolidation of European law and started to have a notable impact on national legislation. The three bodies, collectively named the European Executives, co-existed until 1 July 1967 when, under the Merger Treaty, the Rey Commission completed the Communitys customs union in 1968 and campaigned for a more powerful, elected, European Parliament. Despite Rey being the first President of the communities, Hallstein is seen as the first President of the modern Commission. The Malfatti and Mansholt Commissions followed with work on monetary co-operation, with that enlargement the Commissions membership increased to thirteen under the Ortoli Commission, which dealt with the enlarged community during economic and international instability at that time. Following the Jenkins Commission, Gaston Thorns Commission oversaw the Communitys enlargement to the south, the Commission headed by Jacques Delors was seen as giving the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. Delors and his team are considered as the founding fathers of the euro. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992. He arrived when Europessimism was at its worst, although he was a little-known former French finance minister, he breathed life and hope into the EC and into the dispirited Brussels Commission. The successor to Delors was Jacques Santer, the entire Santer Commission was forced to resign in 1999 by the Parliament as result of a fraud and corruption scandal, with a central role played by Édith Cresson
35.
ABB Group
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ABB is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, operating mainly in robotics and the power and automation technology areas. It ranked as the 286th largest company by revenue for 2016 in the Fortune Global 500 list, ABB is one of the largest engineering companies as well as one of the largest conglomerates in the world. ABB has operations in around 100 countries, with approximately 132,000 employees in December 2016, ABB is traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zürich, Nasdaq Stockholm and the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. ABBs history goes back to the late 19th century, ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås as manufacturer of electrical light and generators. CEO at the time of the merger was the former CEO of ASEA, Percy Barnevik, in 1990, ABB purchased Westinghouses metering and control division. Klaus Agthe was CEO of the US operation at the time, continuing with its expansion plans, ABB purchased Elsag Bailey, a process automation group, in 1997 which included Bailey Controls, Hartmann & Braun, and Fischer & Porter. This was the largest acquisition to date in ABBs history, ABB bought International Combustion Ltd from Rolls-Royce in 1997. ABBs boiler and fossil fuel businesses were purchased by Alstom in 2000, ABB formally divested from a joint venture named ABB-Alstom Power in 2000, and sold its interest in conventional power generation systems to Alstom Power. ABBs nuclear business was sold to BNFL and merged into Westinghouse Electric Company, in 2001, ABB was ranked as number one on the Dow Jones corporate sustainability index for the third year in a row. In 2002, ABB asked Lindahl, the former chief executive, to return some of his $50 million retirement pay. ABB also asked its former chairman Percy Barnevik to pay part of his $87 million pension package. The size of the pensions was disclosed at the time as ABBs $691 million net loss for 2001 made headlines and drew sharp criticism in Switzerland. ABBs Building Systems business unit was sold off in 2004 to Capvis, ABBs building systems businesses in Australia and Hong Kong were sold off the year before, in May 2003, to Downer EDI Limited. Building Systems provided services for building facilities encompassing indoor air quality, building automation as well as power distribution, financial debt and lingering asbestos liability brought ABB to the brink of bankruptcy in the early 2000s. In 2006, ABB returned to health by settling its asbestos liability regarding claims that were filed against ABBs U. S. subsidiaries, Combustion Engineering. In August 2007 Lummus Global was sold to CB&I, in December 2008, ABB acquired Ber-Mac Electrical and Instrumentation to expand its presence in western Canadas oil and gas industries. Ber-Mac Electrical and Instrumentation has been in the business of supplying power and instrumentation equipment and services. Ber-Mac provides its clients with expertise in industrial automation, electrical and instrumentation design, process optimization, panel fabrication and it is particularly strong in the Oil & Gas industry
36.
Alfa Laval
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Alfa Laval AB is a Swedish company, founded in 1883 by Gustaf de Laval and Oscar Lamm. The company, which started in the separation of solutions, now deals in the production of specialized products, the products are used to heat, cool, separate and transport such products as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, foodstuffs, starch and pharmaceuticals. In 2016, Alfa Laval had a workforce of 17,309 employees. Alfa Laval is a heavy industry company that focuses on the operations, such as the Marine, Energy. As well as selling equipment, Alfa Laval contracts out to provide solutions to the demands of heavy industry. Alfa Laval is known in the Maritime Industry as producer of maritime equipment, Alfa Laval manufactures valves, pumps, heat exchangers, evaporators, distillers, oil separators, filters, and all other hardware vital to the operation of the a ship’s engine room. As of 2011, Alfa Laval consolidated its Marine, Off-shore, Alfa Laval introduced PureBallast in 2006, which is the worlds first commercially sold water treatment system for the Maritime Industry. It also is the first chemical-free solution to ballast water treatment and it works by filtering the water inside the ballasts tanks though an enhanced AOT process. The process of PureBallast creates free radicals that destroy the membrane of biological contaminates, Alfa Laval has updated its PureBallast system to Pure Ballast 3.0 that adheres to the new IMO regulations. South Korea, the largest ship building nation in the world, has placed orders for the new ballast system, the company was founded in 1883 as AB Separator and in 1938 produced its first heat exchanger. The name Alfa-Laval was introduced in 1963, spelled with a hyphen until 1993, in 1991 Alfa-Laval was acquired by Tetra Pak and between 1993 and 2000 Alfa Laval was a part of the Tetra Laval Group. In 1993, Alfa Laval Agri, a company producing dairy farming equipment, was split from Alfa Laval, when Alfa Laval was sold, Alfa Laval Agri remained a part of the Tetra Laval Group and was renamed DeLaval, after the companys founder. Alfa Laval now divides its operations between equipment and process technology, recently, Alfa Laval has been working towards the consolidation of its manufacturing of boilers. By 2014, Alfa Laval should have all its manufacturing of boilers located in Qingdao, the boiler manufacturing plant in Hai Phong, Vietnam have been shut down in 2013 due to production consolidation. As of 2012, Alfa Laval has a total of 32 manufacturing facilities,15 of which are located in Europe,9 in Asia,6 in the United States, in 1983, Alfa Laval entered the biotechnology industry by offering separators that can isolate genetic samples. In midsummer 2008 there was a theft at the facility at Lund where 80 metric ton of titanium were stolen in two trailers that were driven to Poland, manufacturing at Alfa Laval is carried out in several countries including Sweden, India, China, the UK, and USA. Alfa Laval is headquartered in Toronto and in 2009 opened a centre in Edmonton. In late 2010, staff in the Canadian operations numbered 74, the brand is known for such products as Tri-Clover, Contherm, Sharples, Merco, Standard Refrigeration, Ketema and Champ
37.
AstraZeneca
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AstraZeneca plc is a British–Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company. In 2015, it was the eighth-largest drug company in the based on sales revenue. AstraZeneca has a portfolio of products for major areas including cancer, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience, respiratory. The company was founded in 1999 through the merger of the Swedish Astra AB and it has made numerous corporate acquisitions, including Cambridge Antibody Technology, MedImmune, Spirogen and Definiens. AstraZeneca has a listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has secondary listings on the New York Stock Exchange and the OMX exchange, Astra AB was founded in 1913 in Södertälje, Sweden, by 400 doctors and apothecaries. In 1993 the British chemicals company ICI demerged its pharmaceuticals businesses and its agrochemicals and specialties businesses, finally, in 1999 Astra and Zeneca Group merged to form AstraZeneca plc, with its headquarters in London. In 1999, AstraZeneca identified as a new location for the companys US base the Fairfax-plus site in North Wilmington, in 2002, its drug Iressa was approved in Japan as monotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. On 3 January 2004 Dr Robert Nolan, a director of AstraZeneca. In 2005, the company acquired KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a UK biotech company, for £120m and it also announced that it had become a Diamond Member of the Pennsylvania Bio commerce organisation. In 2006, following a relationship begun in 2004, AstraZeneca acquired Cambridge Antibody Technology for £702 million. In February 2007, AstraZeneca agreed to buy Arrow Therapeutics, a focused on the discovery and development of anti-viral therapies. AstraZenecas pipeline, and patent cliff, was the subject of speculation in April 2007 leading to pipeline-boosting collaboration and acquisition activities. In 2010, AstraZeneca acquired Novexel Corp, an antiobiotics discovery company formed in 2004 as a spin-off of the Sanofi-Aventis anti-infectives division, Astra acquired the experimental antibiotic NXL-104 through this acquisition. In 2011, AstraZeneca acquired Guangdong BeiKang Pharmaceutical Company, a Chinese generics business, in February 2012, AstraZeneca and Amgen announced a collaboration on treatments for inflammatory diseases. Then in April 2012, AstraZeneca acquired Ardea Biosciences, another biotechnology company, in June 2012, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb announced a two-stage deal for the joint acquisition of the biotechnology company Amylin Pharmaceuticals. AstraZeneca also announced that it would move its headquarters from London to Cambridge in 2016. That announcement included the announcement that it would cut 1,600 jobs and it also announced that it would focus on three therapeutic areas, Respiratory, Inflammation & Autoimmunity, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease, and Oncology
38.
Atlas Copco
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Atlas Copco is a Swedish industrial company that was founded in 1873. It manufactures industrial tools and equipment, the Atlas Copco Group is a global industrial group of companies headquartered in Nacka, Sweden. In 2016, global revenues totalled SEK101 billion, and by the end of year the company employed about 45,000 people. The company manufactures products at about 100 production sites in more than 20 countries, as of 2016, the United States is the companys largest single market, followed by China. The firms shares are listed on the OMX Stockholm exchange and both A and B classes form part of the benchmark OMXS30 index. Atlas Copco companies develop, manufacture, service, and rent industrial tools, air compressors, construction and mining equipment such as rock drills, the Group operates in four areas, Compressor Technique, Mining and Rock Excavation Technique, Construction Technique and Industrial Technique. In January 2017 it was announced that Atlas Copco plans to split in two and appoint a new chief executive, the split is expected to occur in 2018. AB Atlas, as it was named, was founded by Edvard Fränckel. The company was established along with Andre O. Wallenberg, Johan W. Arnberg, Carl G. Cervin, in its inauguration phase, Atlas dealt with the manufacturing, purchasing and selling of all types of material for railroad construction and operations. After the hard hit of the recession in the 1880s and the decline in construction, Atlas diversified its undertakings and branched off into locomotives, central heating. In 1899, Atlas began developing their first air compressors and established itself as a compressor manufacturer, the Atlas Diesel merger experienced significant growth during the First World War and towards the end of the war, export dominated 40–50 % of production. The depression years caused significant losses for the company, which led to several reconstructions in the 1920s and 1930s. The Swedish method was another war period strategy that strongly influenced the firms pneumatic program, consisting of rock drills. In 1948 the company terminated its manufacturing and the name Atlas Diesel was no longer pertinent. The name Atlas Copco became official in 1955 and was inspired by the Belgian subsidiary Compagnie Pneumatique, the Swedish method that was founded during the war period laid the foundation for the international expansion Atlas Copco engaged in starting in the 1950s. The purchasing of the Belgian compressor company Arpic Engineering in 1956, was the firms first major international acquisition, eventually, Arpics plants carried out a majority of Atlas Copcos compressor production. In 1960 another important acquisition was made with the purchasing of Craelius, in the 1970s, international expansion accelerated dramatically, due to various structural reforms and efficiency measures brought on by weakened economic conditions and increased production costs. These conditions meant that Atlas Copco had to accelerate and brake simultaneously in order to keep profitability up, a number of strategic acquisitions were therefore made including the French compressor manufacturer Mauguière
39.
Boliden AB
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New Boliden is a Swedish mining and smelting company focusing on production of copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver. Following a series of acquisitions during the 1980s and 1990s the company acquired mining and smelting assets of the Finnish mining and smelting company Outokumpu in 2003, Outokumpu acquired the subsidiary Boliden Contech and Bolidens copper and zinc divisions. As a consequence of the deal, Outokumpu ended up controlling 49 percent of the Boliden shares, the company has approximately 4,500 employees. The name comes from the Boliden mine, some 30 km northwest of the Swedish town of Skellefteå and it was once Europes largest and richest gold mine, but since 1967 the mine has been defunct. Business Area Mines conducts exploration, mining and milling operations in Sweden and its main products are zinc and copper concentrate, with some lead, gold and silver content. The goods produced are sold both to the Group’s own smelters and to external customers, Boliden owns and operates Europe’s biggest zinc mine at Tara in Ireland. Tara became part of Boliden in early 2004, but production began there in 1977, Boliden also owns Garpenberg, which is Sweden’s oldest mine still in operation. Mining at Garpenberg began back in the 13th century, Boliden also owns and operates the Aitik open pit mine, which is one of Europe’s biggest copper mines. Metal grades at Aitik are low, but this is compensated for by high productivity levels and efficient milling processes that exploit the ore’s gold. An expansion project that will double Aitik’s ore production to 36 million tonnes per annum by 2014 began in 2007, Business Area Smelters refines both metal concentrate and secondary materials to produce base and precious metals at smelters in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The main metals are zinc and copper but the production of lead, gold, other products include sulphuric acid and aluminium fluoride. Boliden owns and operates two zinc and two copper smelters and one lead smelter, the Kokkola zinc smelter in Finland is the second largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world, and mainly produces an alloy used in the galvanising of thin sheet metal. The Odda zinc smelter, which produces zinc for the steel industry, the Rönnskär copper smelter is located in the Swedish town of Skelleftehamn and its main products are copper, zinc clinker, lead and precious metals. The smelter, which produces sulphuric acid as a by-product of its operations, also produces metals from electronic scrap, the Harjavalta copper smelter, located on the west coast of Finland, produces copper cathodes that are mainly sold to manufacturers of semi-finished goods. Other important products include gold, silver and sulphuric acid, the Bergsöe lead smelter outside Landskrona in southern Sweden extracts lead from scrap car batteries. Bergsöe is one of Europe’s four biggest players in the recycling industry. Approximately 60 per cent of the lead production is sold to the European battery industry. On 10 December 1924, an ore deposit was discovered at Fågelmyran
40.
Electrolux
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AB Electrolux is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the worlds second-largest appliance maker by units sold, Electrolux products sell under a variety of brand names, and are primarily major appliances and vacuum cleaners intended for consumer use. The company also makes appliances for professional use, Electrolux has a primary listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the OMX Stockholm 30 index. The company originates from a merger of two companies—Lux AB and Svenska Elektron AB, the former an established manufacturer and the latter a younger company founded by a former vacuum salesman who was also a former employee of the former firm. The origins of Electrolux are closely tied to the vacuum, in 1919 a Svenska Elektron AB acquisition, Elektromekaniska AB, became Elektrolux It initially sold Lux-branded vacuum cleaners in several European countries. In 1923, the company acquired AB Arctic and subsequently added absorption refrigerators to its product line, other appliances soon followed, including washing machines in 1951, dishwashers in 1959, and food service equipment in 1962. The company has often and regularly expanded through mergers and acquisitions, while Electrolux had bought several companies before the 1960s, that decade saw the beginnings of a new wave of M&A activity. The company bought ElektroHelios, Norwegian Elektra, Danish Atlas, Finnish Slev and this style of growth continued through the 1990s, seeing Electrolux purchase scores of companies including, for a time, Husqvarna. Hans Werthen, President and later Chairman of the Board, led the strategic core of an increasingly decentralized Electrolux—and was instrumental to its rapid growth, Electrolux made an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 and another on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1930. Currently, its shares trade on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Market, Electrolux is an OMX Nordic 40 constituent stock. In North America, the Electrolux name was long-used by a vacuum cleaner manufacturer, Aerus LLC, in 2000, Aerus transferred trademark rights back to the Electrolux Group. Aerus stopped using the Electrolux brand in 2004, Electrolux USA customer service maintains a database of Electrolux-made vacuums and provides a link to Aerus in case an Electrolux-branded vacuum cleaner was made by Aerus. Keith McLoughlin took over as President and CEO on January 1,2011, in August 2011, Electrolux acquired from Sigdo Koppers the Chilean appliance manufacturer CTI obtaining several brands with the purchase including, Fensa, Gafa, Mademsa and Somela. On February 6,2017, Electrolux announced that it had agreed to acquire Anova Applied Electronics,1919, The Lux vacuum is the first product Electrolux sells. 1925, D, Electroluxs first refrigerator, is an absorption model,1937, Electrolux model 30 vacuum is unveiled. 1940, Assistent, the only wartime consumer product, is a mixer/food processor. 1951, W20, Electroluxs first home washing machine, is manufactured in post–World War II Gothenburg,1959, D10, the companys first dishwasher, is a counter-top model nicknamed round jar. 2001, Launch of the Electrolux Trilobite, a vacuum cleaner
US$6.28 billion (2016)
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