Helen Reid and Greta Rosen Fondahn
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By Helen Reid and Greta Rosen Fondahn
LONDON/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -The billionaire Persson family has picked up the pace of share purchases in the H&M fashion empire it founded, regulatory filings showed on Tuesday, potentially boosting speculation the company may eventually be taken private.
The family's Ramsbury Invest holding company, primarily owned by Sweden's richest man Stefan Persson, bought 42.75 million H&M shares in the first half of this year, according to the Swedish financial regulator, with the most recent transaction on Monday.
That is a faster pace so far than in 2024, when Ramsbury Invest purchased 56.85 million shares over the year as a whole, and in 2023, when the family bought 55.65 million shares.
"As the family owns more shares they have a higher dividend to reinvest which would support increased share purchases," said Deutsche Bank analyst Adam Cochrane, who expects the family to take H&M private by 2030.
The Persson family and its related companies owned more than 64% of H&M's shares at the end of May, according to the company's website.
H&M referred Reuters' questions about the share purchases to a spokesperson for Ramsbury Invest, who declined to comment on the stake-building or on the possibility of the company being taken private.
"I think they will, in due time, take it private - the question is, is it now, or in ten or 20 years?" said Peter Magnusson, portfolio manager at Cicero Fonder in Stockholm.
The family would likely need to find external financing or partners to buy the whole company, Magnusson added.
H&M's market value is around 187 billion Swedish crowns ($19.7 billion).
Investment bankers expect more publicly-listed retailers to go private, since U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs have dented share prices and driven market volatility. H&M's share price is down 9% since the start of this year.
H&M was founded by Erling Persson in 1947, and his son Stefan took over as CEO in 1982, staying in the role for 27 years before handing over to his son Karl-Johan Persson in 2009.
In 2020, H&M got its first chief executive from outside the family, with Karl-Johan becoming chair.
($1 = 9.4806 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Helen Reid in London and Greta Rosen Fondahn in Stockholm. Editing by Mark Potter)
