H&M owners quietly buying its shares

Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), the fast-fashion retailer that’s been listed on the Swedish stock market since 1974, is steadily moving back towards private ownership. The founding family has stepped up purchases of H&M shares, spending more than $6.6 billion since 2016 to amass nearly two-thirds control and fuelling speculation it could take the Stockholm-based company back into private hands – despite denials from family members.The Perssons, one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, has ramped up insider buying by reinvesting dividends, boosting its H&M stake to almost 64% from 35.5% over the past nine years through a holding company Ramsbury Invest, saying little about their intentions other than that they “believe” in H&M, founded in 1947 by Erling Persson.