Viking raider who forsook books for bourses

Before Olof Stenhammar set up OM Gruppen, one of Sweden's largest companies, he had already proved himself a convincing commander of everything from naval ships to publishing empires.

Before Olof Stenhammar set up OM Gruppen, one of Sweden's largest companies, he had already proved himself a convincing commander of everything from naval ships to publishing empires.

Mr Stenhammar may be viewed by apologists of the LSE-Deutsche Börse deal as an unwanted Viking invader, but the chairman of OM has a record of attaining his goals. He rose through the ranks of Sweden's leading publisher, Bonnier, in the 1980s and was executive vice president when he left to launch OM, the world's first for-profit exchange, in 1985.

The businessman, now a balding and bearded 59-year-old, may not like the Viking analogy, but he has proved that seafaring is in his blood. He served in the Swedish navy for four years after university and remains a reserve lieutenant commander. He keeps his hand in by sailing his own torpedo boat. He also keeps a herd of Hereford cattle and owns a marina and restaurant in the Stockholm archipelago of Varmdo.

His inspiration for OM came after the navy but before the publishing empire, in the bearpit of Chicago futures exchange where Mr Stenhammar did a stint as a broker for the securities house EF Hutton in the early-1970s. While there he came up with the idea of the world's first privately owned exchange, trading on a for-profit basis.

When he eventually launched OM the idea flew. OM, which stands for Options Market, transformed from a £230m concern five years ago to a £2.6bn giant that in 1998 took over Stockholm's stock exchange and now supplies technology for 20 exchanges and clearing houses around the world.

While the initial idea was Mr Stenhammar's, its execution and the growth of the company is also due to the involvement of other Swedes.

Per Larsson, OM's chief executive, joined the company at 24, within a year of graduating in business administration. While Mr Stenhammar is credited with being one of Sweden's most visionary entrepreneurs, 39-year-old Mr Larsson, who was hired by OM to oversee its clearing systems, is responsible for the creation of Jiway, the cross-border share-trading platform that promises to revolutionise trading for retail investors across Europe when it launches in November.

The final Swedish ingredient in OM's success has been the financial backing it received from the very beginning from the famously secret Wallenberg family, which has stakes in large chunks of the country's businesses. The Wallenbergs own 15 per cent of OM.

Mr Stenhammar himself has hung on to 4 per cent.