Conni Jonsson steps down as EQT managing partner

Conni Jonsson is stepping down as managing partner of EQT Partners after two decades at the helm of Sweden's largest buyout fund manager, a decision that highlights the changing of the guard in Europe's private equity industry amid increased political and regulatory scrutiny.

Thomas von Koch, 47, another two-decade EQT veteran, is taking over in March while Mr Jonsson will continue as chairman on a full-time basis, the Stockholm-based group said on Tuesday.

"It has been an amazing 20 years leading EQT from a single buyout firm with a Swedish accent to becoming one of the most successful private equity organisations in Europe," Mr Jonsson said.

Mr Jonsson, 53, became EQT's managing partner in 1994 when he co-founded the company with the backing of the Wallenberg family, one of the wealthiest in Sweden.

Mr von Koch, who was part of the team from the start, has been involved in deals including the leveraged buyouts of cable operators ComHem and Kabel Baden-Wurttemberg, as well as the acquisition of healthcare provider Gambro.

"I am really excited to take on the challenge of managing EQT . . . I'm honoured but remain humble given the challenges we face, both as a company and as an industry", Mr von Koch said in a statement.

EQT, which mostly invests in companies in northern Europe, has emerged from the financial crisis as one of the more successful buyout fund managers in the region, raising €4.75bn for a new fund in under nine months, when others on average spend double the time on the road and struggle to meet their targets.

But the reshuffle comes as the fund manager and its Swedish peers are battling in court against the country's tax authorities, which request they pay hundreds of millions in retroactive taxes on carried interest - the share of profit buyout fund managers levy when investments are sold and the cash returned to investors.

The authorities have taken the view that carried interest should be taxed as ordinary income, and not at the lower rate of capital gains.

In August, EQT and about 20 of its current and former employees appealed a ruling to pay about SKr500m ($75m) in unpaid taxes and penalties on past profit for the period between 2007 and 2009, according to EQT. The decision follows an initial ruling in December last year that required the company to pay SKr100m for income received in 2006.

EQT also took steps to address wider criticism in the country over the groups' lack of transparency and their use of tax havens by reorganising its operations under a single Sweden-based umbrella company.

Mr Jonsson, a figurehead of Swedish private equity, has repeatedly raised concerns that the tax clampdown will hit companies' ability to raise funds from foreign investors.

"The more long-term risk is that the reputation of Sweden as a safe and reputable country to invest in is potentially questioned," he told the Financial Times in January.

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