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"Highly readable and entertaining" --BA Business Life
"A topical read" --Julian Fleming, Sunday Business Post
"A topical read" --Julian Fleming, Sunday Business Post
Book Description
'An enthralling cautionary tale of the recurring excesses of global finance ... The author displays a vivid touch in describing the Swedish parvenu's successful efforts to infiltrate the upper echelons of US finance.' Francesco Guerrera, Financial Times
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEST-LIKED CROOK EVER?,
By
This review is from: The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century (Hardcover)
I must have led a sheltered life - all 68 years of it because until I read this excellent book by Frank Partnoy (Author of F.I.A.S.C.O - an expose of the inside dealings at Morgan Stanley) the name Ivar Kreuger meant nothing to me, and I would guess to most others. Boy, what we have missed! Kreuger was an extraordinary businessman quite unlike any other that I've come across before. He was handsome, articulate beyond comparison, charming, dashing and single-minded in his determination to become the most successful businessman in the whole world - and very nearly succeeded.
His guiding philosophy was "Everything in life is founded on confidence," and he set about creating an aura about himself of commercial brilliance, complete understanding of international financing, untold wealth and opulence and a coterie of friends and associates which included President Herbert Hoover, Mussolini, Presidents and Prime Ministers of a number of European countries, King Alfonso of Spain and scores of others. He discovered Greta Gustafson (later to change to Garbo) in Sweden, helped her to become an enigmatic super-star and remained one of her very few friends until his suicide. This halo of confidence, coupled with almost non-existent rules on the accounting of public companies particularly overseas affiliates, enabled Kreuger to persuade (not that they needed much persuasion) the Blue Chip US investment bank, Lee Higginson & Co to raise tens of millions of dollars, ostensibly to make large loans on favourable terms to countries such as Germany, in return for a monopoly in matches (which was his main business) produced and sold in that country. To encourage investors in his companies he offered the promise of very high dividends, much beyond the ability of the businesses to generate, which he was only able to pay out provided new money was attracted to his businesses by Lee Higginson. He was also abetted by some very compliant and accommodating Auditors particularly in New York, the source of his money raising, where Albert Berning of Ernst & Ernst was extremely undemanding and accepted, without evidence in most cases, the word of Kreuger on important matters of the assets owned by the group and its profits. Then came the 1929 Wall Street crash which had repercussions worldwide, resulting in investors becoming very nervous about any sort of new investment thus cutting off Ivar's supply of new money coming in, which he needed like Charles Ponzi to pay earlier investors. His empire imploded and on March 12, 1932 committed suicide in Paris shortly before a scheduled meeting with his main creditors. Frank Partnoy skillfully pieces together this incredible story of how one man fooled and defrauded a vast number of governments, banks, investors and famous people. Whilst these circumstances could not occur again because of much tighter and restrictive investment and corporate governance regulations, the story of Ivar Kreugar's legendary fraudulent ambitions and downfall is gripping and a fabulous read. Where does he stand in the gallery of business deviants, such as Ponzi, and Madoff? I liked the quote in the book from Frederic Whyte who concluded that "He must surely have been the best-liked crook that ever lived."
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping biography of a fascinating business genius and con man,
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This review is from: The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century: Ivan Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century (Paperback)
Readers who love fascinating stories with unforgettable characters will thank professor and market expert Frank Partnoy for his book on 1920s business icon Ivar Kreuger. This remarkable figure was a global financier, Greta Garbo's close companion, and an adviser to prime ministers, kings and a U.S. president. Though he was one of the world's greatest con men, he has somehow slipped, all but forgotten, from popular history. Partnoy resurrects Kreuger in all his tragic glory: a successful, well-known entrepreneur whose abrupt fall from grace and apparent suicide - by a bullet through the heart - coincided with the Great Depression. Kreuger's financial chicanery led to comprehensive U.S. securities reform in the early 1930s. getAbstract considers this business biography a rollicking good tale. It holds particular lessons for those looking to make sense of recent financial history: how a brilliant businessman made some innovative - and eerily familiar - promises to greedy, willfully ignorant investors.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hero and Villain,
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This review is from: The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century (Hardcover)
Empire
Ivar Kreuger's industrial empire was mainly built on national monopolies for match sales. At the zenith of his business career, his holding companies Swedish Match and Kreuger-Toll owned 225 subsidiaries covering banking, mining (Boliden), railway, timber, paper, cellulose, iron ore, real estate, telephone (L.M. Ericsson) and film production (Greta Gustafson Garbo) and distribution interests, together with 75 % of the world's match manufacturing and 24 national match sales monopolies. All these investments were controlled AND managed by one man: Ivar Kreuger. Business strategy His strategy was based on horizontal and vertical integration, but also on briberies and the use of tax havens (he bribed all 13 members of the Liechtenstein parliament!). Financial strategy To attract new financial resources he distributed extremely fat dividends, thereby sometimes using his own version of a Ponzi scheme: continuing to pay dividends with newly raised cash. The financial capacity of his home country, Sweden, was far too small for his business ambitions and he turned to Wall Street to tap new capital. He was a real financial innovator, creating A and B (1/1000 of one vote) as well as preferred shares in order to keep control of all his interests. Reporting Ivar Kreuger used now very well known accounting subterfuges: false financial statements, off-balance sheet liabilities, undisclosed risks, complex derivatives in offshore subsidiaries and even forged signatures and counterfeited debits (bonds). But in the 1920s some of these practices were rather common. Only 1/4th of the listed companies published quarterly results (without any detail) and 1/3th didn't even report at all. There were no real audits or GAAP rules. Crash A few years after the Wall Street crash, Ivar Krueger's conglomerate disintegrated. Its estimated loss was greater than Sweden's national debt. However, investors still recovered 50 % of their money after the bankruptcy proceedings were closed, even when major parts of his holdings were sold at fire prices. The Wallenberg family snatched away his main holding Swedish Match, which still exists today, like L. M. Ericsson and other subsidiaries. New regulations Without the collapse of Ivar Kreuger's empire, modern securities regulations and litigations, as well as GAAP rules would not exist or would be introduced much later. Overall picture Frank Partnoy's excellent research shows us a Match King as the first real tycoon, full of hubris, living all the time on the brink of financial breakdown, a financial genius and visionary innovator, a reckless entrepreneur who sought greatness, not wealth. His book is a fascinating portrait of a man who knew no limits and used all means to build and extend maniacally his industrial power base. This corporate and personal drama is a must read for all those interested in the business world and economic history.
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