Bot at 13:31, 15 October 2022

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{{Short description|Swedish industrialist (1925–1989)}}
'''Claes-Ulrik Winberg''' (23 September 1925 – 31 May 1989) was a [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[Business magnate|industrialist]] and [[business executive]]. He was CEO of [[Bofors|AB Bofors]] from 1972 to 1984. He was also chairman of the [[Swedish Employers' Association of the Steel and Metal Industry|Swedish Iron Industry Association]] ({{lang-sv|Järnbruksförbundet}}) from 1978 to 1983 and of the [[Swedish Employers Association]] from 1984 to 1985. Winberg was forced to resign his position as chairman of the Swedish Employers Association in 1984, following the unveiling of the [[Bofors scandal]].

==Career==
Winberg was born in [[Copenhagen]], Denmark, the son of major Karl Winberg and his wife Nellie (née Møller).<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 1199">{{cite book |date=1984 |title=Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1985 |trans-title=Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1985 |location=Stockholm |publisher=Norstedt |language=Swedish |isbn=91-1-843222-0 |id={{LIBRIS|3681527}} |url=http://runeberg.org/vemardet/1985/1199.html |page=1199}}</ref> He passed ''[[studentexamen]]'' in [[Jönköping]] in 1944<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 1199"/> and studied at the [[Royal Swedish Naval Academy]] in the end of the 1940s and graduated from [[Technical University of Denmark]] with a [[Master of Engineering]] degree in 1952.<ref name=dn>{{cite news |first=Bo G. |last=Andersson |title=F d Boforschefen död i trafikolycka |newspaper=[[Dagens Nyheter]] |page=7 |date=1989-06-02 |language=Swedish}}</ref> Winberg worked as an engineer at [[Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag|Husqvarna vapenfabrik AB]] from 1952 to 1953 and at [[Sundstrand Corporation|Sundstrand Machine Tool Company]] in [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]], [[Illinois]], United States from 1953 to 1955. He then worked for the same company in [[Paris]] from 1955 to 1957. Winberg was export manager at A/S Atlas in Copenhagen, from 1957 to 1960 and CEO of A/S Sören Wistoft & Co Fabriker in Copenhagen from 1960 to 1962. Winberg worked as assistant to the managing director at AB Svenska Fläktfabriken from 1962 to 1966 and was CEO of [[Hexagon AB]] from 1966 to 1971. He was appointed vice CEO of [[Bofors|AB Bofors]] in 1971 and was CEO of AB Bofors from 1972 to 1984. He was also chairman of the board of the [[Swedish Employers Association]] from 1984.

Winberg was in the late 1960s a board member of Svenska plåtrör AB, Hexagon AB, Gustav Carlsson & Co.<ref name="Davidsson (1968), p. 1000">{{cite book |editor1-last=Davidsson |editor1-first=Åke |date=1968 |title=Vem är vem?. 5, Norrland : supplement, register |trans-title=Who's Who?. 5, Norrland : supplements, directory |edition=2nd |location=Stockholm |publisher=Vem är vem |language=Swedish |id={{LIBRIS|53513}} |url=http://runeberg.org/vemarvem/norr68/1024.html |page=1000}}</ref> He was also a board deputy of Vegete Group as well as board member of Copenhagen Junior Chamber of Commerce from 1959 to 1962 and the machine engineering group in the Danish Engineering Association (''Dansk Ingeniørforening'') from 1962.<ref name="Davidsson (1968), p. 1000"/> Winberg was later on also a board member of Vegete from 1966 (chairman from 1981), Swedish Iron Industry Association (''Järnbruksförbundet'') from 1973 (chairman 1978-83), Federation of Swedish Industries (''Sveriges Industriförbund'') from 1973, [[Gusums Bruk|Gusums bruk AB]] from 1974, ''Sveriges Mekanförbund'' from 1974, [[Örebro County]] and [[Västmanland County]] chamber of commerce from 1974 (chairman 1977-83) and of Hasselfors AB from 1977.<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 1199"/> Winberg was also a board member of [[Boliden AB]] from 1979, the [[National Swedish Board of Economic Defence]] from 1978 and of the Swedish steel producers' association Jernkontoret from 1973.<ref>{{cite book |title=Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1981 |trans-title=Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1981 |year=1980 |publisher=Norstedt |location=Stockholm |language=Swedish |isbn=91-1-805012-3 |id={{LIBRIS|3681525}} |url=http://runeberg.org/vemardet/1981/1157.html |page=1137}}</ref> Winberg was a member of the [[Royal Patriotic Society]] from 1978.<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 1199"/>

==Bofors==
{{See also|Bofors scandal}}

Winberg was CEO of Bofors during a period characterized by unprofitability and structural problems within the company's civilian sector.<ref name=dn/> The company was entirely dependent of the manufacturing of war materials, which occurred during a time when the company's deliveries to the Swedish military decreased due to shrunken government subsidies to the military.<ref name=dn/> Winberg's line was to focus even harder on the war materials manufacturing.<ref name=dn/> He advocated a weapons export policy without any restrictions whatsoever and periodically pursued an intensive lobby campaign towards Swedish defence politicians.<ref name=dn/> It was during Winberg's leadership that Bofors become involved in [[Singapore]], a strategic effort to increase weapons export in the entire [[Southeast Asia]].<ref name=dn/> In May 1984 Winberg was reported to the police by the [[Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society]] (SPAS) on charges of [[smuggling]], for the alleged sale of [[RBS 70]] to the illicit countries [[Dubai]] and [[Bahrain]] through Singapore.<ref name=dn/> This started a series of revelations of what would later be known as the [[Bofors scandal]].<ref name=dn/> When Bofors during the turn of the year 1984/1985 merged with the company Kema Nobel into the new company [[Nobel Industrier]], Winberg left his position as CEO but continued as a member of board of the new company.<ref name=dn/> In June 1985, after the suspicions of crime against Bofors strengthened, Winberg resigned from his position as chairman of the [[Swedish Employers Association]].<ref name=dn/> In the summer of 1988 Winberg, together with three other former Bofors executives, was prosecuted by the [[Stockholm District Court]] for his role in the smuggling scandal.<ref name=dn/> During the entire police investigation, Winberg strongly dismissed any participation in letting the weapon deliveries reach the unallowed countries Dubain and Bahrain.<ref name=dn/> The court proceedings, where Winberg due to his sudden and unexpected death (see below) didn't participate, began on 4 September 1989.<ref name=dn/> In December the same year, the three other former Bofors executives – [[Martin Ardbo]], [[Lennart Pålsson]] and [[Hans Ekblom]] – where convicted by the court and given a conditional sentence for the illicit smuggling of goods.<ref name=dn/> Furthermore, the company Nobel Industrier was ordered by the court to pay [[Swedish krona|SEK]] 11 million in fines.<ref name=dn/>

==Personal life==
In 1952 he married Kristina Bergenstråhle (born 1929), the daughter of Gunnar Bergenstråhle and Ebba (née de Besche).<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 1199"/> He was the father of Ulrik (born 1955), Flemming (born 1958) and Christer (born 1960).<ref name="Davidsson (1968), p. 1000"/>

==Death==
Winberg died in a [[Car accident|car crash]] on [[Swedish national road|road 53]] between [[Västerås]] and [[Eskilstuna]] on 31 May 1989.<ref name=dn/> Winberg was, together with his wife Kristina who also died in the crash, on his way to a dinner with friends in Stockholm.<ref name=dn/> According to the police report, the car they were driving skidded on a wet roadway and collided with an oncoming van.<ref name=dn/>

==See also==
* [[Carl-Fredrik Algernon]]
* [[Cats Falck]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winberg, Claes-Ulrik}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:Swedish chief executives]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Sweden]]
[[Category:Bofors scandal]]
[[Category:People from Copenhagen]]
[[Category:Technical University of Denmark alumni]]
[[Category:Swedish mechanical engineers]]

Claes-Ulrik Winberg - Revision history

Bot at 13:31, 15 October 2022