Originally published in Svenska Dagbladet by Björn Jeffery, October 21, 2025

As steel company Stegra faces a crisis, its current owners are confronted with a kind of ultimatum. Three billion kronor is going out the door every month — and the clock is ticking.

Being on the ownership list of a successful company is something of a minor act of genius. Think of Jane Walerud, or the American venture capital firm Sequoia — both saw the potential and invested early in Klarna, for example.

But ownership also comes with obligations. When a company faces a crisis — or simply needs further financing in general — it is the existing owners who are approached first. How they act sets the tone for how any potential new investors view the company and its future.

Now that steel company Stegra needs more money, a story is beginning to take shape from how the current ownership list looks. Who knows what, who believes in the future — and who has already given up.

The most well-known name on Stegra’s ownership list is financier Harald Mix. Via company builder Vargas, he has stood at the top as the largest owner for some considerable time. The position is natural — the person who starts a company begins with 100 percent ownership, and that is diluted as new owners and key personnel are brought in. Mix has also invested new money in previous financing rounds Stegra has carried out.

Mix also appears in several other places on the list. Through his private holding company Kallskär he is also a large individual owner, with just under 3 percent of the shares. That will likely increase as Kallskär is participating in the new financing round. Vargas — interestingly — is not.

Venture capital firm Altor, where Mix is a partner, is also a major owner of Stegra. And Kinnevik — where Mix previously sat on the board — likewise. Kinnevik has announced that it will not be contributing further money. Investment bank Pareto estimates that Kinnevik will likely need to write down around 50 percent of its current investment’s value.

That there have been nothing but delays is widely known — now talk is of a manufacturing start in early 2027 — but large industrial projects running over time is hardly unique. That should therefore not be particularly off-putting. So what has Kinnevik seen that means they do not automatically want to step up? It is not a lack of cash. At its most recent quarterly report it had 8.6 billion kronor in the bank.

When existing owners are not sufficient, new ones must be brought in. But then the conditions follow accordingly. It is those who contribute new money who dictate what happens going forward. For the existing owners who choose not to continue investing, a significant dilution will likely occur — their stake will become less valuable.

The situation is both common and legally correct. But it has some similarities to a form of coercion, albeit in a corporate context. Either you participate and contribute new money, or you lose part of the money you have already invested.

For some of Stegra’s owners, the situation is therefore something of a choice between plague and cholera. According to the Financial Times, the current money is running out, and the company’s lawyers have warned the board that Stegra risks being unable to pay its debts going forward. Putting in yet more money in such a situation is an emergency measure that resolves the immediate crisis — but probably not the underlying problem. And if you do not invest new money, you risk either being heavily diluted by new owners with tough terms — or, in the very worst case, losing everything in a future bankruptcy or reconstruction.

We are not there yet. But this is unlikely to be the last financing round Stegra will need before the business can stand on its own feet. The Financial Times reports that the company is burning around 3 billion kronor per month at present. Production is not expected to be up and running until early 2027.

Between now and then, the company will need both support and more money from those on the ownership list. How many of them will step forward when the time comes? That is the question Stegra’s management is likely wrestling with right now.