On October the 13th 2009 CCFS together with Invest in France Agency arranged a seminar entitled ”Expansion through acquisition – the Capio and Pernod Ricard examples of Swedish-French transactions” 

Keynote speakers Thomas Berglund, President and CEO Capio, talked about Capio and their acquisitions in France and Isabelle Ducellier, CEO Pernod Ricard Sweden, talked about the acquisition of Vin&Sprit by Pernod Ricard.

Thomas started out and he said that it is important is to take one step at a time:

1. First build the fundamentals of the business, 2. Then run what you have, 3. Then you need to refine and expand, 4. Only when you have taken the three first steps you are ready for an acquisition (and the acquisition will bring you back to step one!)

Isabelle Ducellier stressed that you need a lot of patience to succeed an acquisition. Intercultural matters are important and need top priority. A dedicated HR strategy is important and a successful integration is vital in order to build a powerful organization.

Also Thomas emphasised the importance of cultural differences. People often tend to think that within Europe the differences are not so big, but sometimes they really are. Between France and Sweden one of the big differences is management. In France management is vertical with the boss in the top and in Sweden management is more about consensus.

Both Capio and Pernod Ricard are decentralised organisations and the most important for both is to have motivated, dedicated employees and this is an important role of the management.

Here below photos from the cocktail that followed the seminar.

Michel Garetta, President of Alexander Hughes Sweden, discussing with Olivier Rousseau, Commercial Councellor at the French Embassy, and Francois Le Maistre, Financial director at Renault Nordic.

Thomas Berglund, CEO at Capio, and Mats Lundqvist, partner at EIM Scandinavia.

Gilles Debuire, Managing Director of Invest in France Agency Nordic Countries and Leena Delestre, Stora Enso.