Put every heir's stake in one family vehicle before handoff

The decisive move is consolidation before transfer

When several adult heirs are close to receiving stakes, the decision is whether the stake arrives as one governable block or scattered shares. Weak succession planning is a leading cause behind the fact that only about 30% of family businesses reach the second generation and 12% reach the third.

By the third generation, a family can face 20 cousins each holding 5%, and a single unhappy shareholder selling to an outsider can break family control.

Before the handoff, move every heir stake into a single family vehicle. The next generation then owns a block that can be governed, not fragments that can be sold. A family meeting can clarify feelings, but it cannot replace a structure that decides who controls the stake when the founder leaves day-to-day control.

There is no overnight fix. The structure has to be in place before control changes, because the next generation inherits the rules as much as the assets. The test is what the structure looks like in ten years.

European and American families have kept capital intact across generations by routing it through one top-level company, keeping assets and control unified.

Pooling scattered assets makes the inherited interest a stake in one company instead of a collection of separate assets.

The vehicle must exist before the transfer

Robin Langenskiöld and Rafaela Seppälä completed the sale of their full Sanoma stakes on 9 September 2026, transferring them to RR & Co Ab, a recently formed company whose ownership and control lie with their children and grandchildren, via Nasdaq Helsinki.

The price was derived from the Nasdaq Helsinki share price after an agreed discount.

After the transfer, the siblings had no direct or indirect ownership or control over RR & Co Ab.

The transfer was intended to keep the family's Sanoma stake in one ownership structure and prevent avoidable fragmentation.

After the transfer, RR & Co Ab held 19,928,117 Sanoma shares, equal to 12.18% of Sanoma's shares and voting rights, and the ownership change did not alter Sanoma's operations.

In Sweden, the Wallenberg family commands half of the nation's industrial base via the listed holding Investor AB, while the Agnelli family keeps Ferrari and Stellantis inside Exor.

Heirs can receive shares in one company under pre-written charter and shareholders' agreement rules while the business, real estate, and portfolio keep operating during re-registration.

The sequence matters: the vehicle should exist before the stakes move, and the rules should exist before the heirs hold control.

Write the rules before the heirs hold shares

• Map every heir stake before moving anything: a schedule listing each heir, asset, percentage, existing control right, and any side agreement that could let one heir act alone.
• Form the family vehicle before the handoff: a holding company with a charter and shareholders' agreement ready for signature, not a draft after the first shares move.
• Set voting and governance rules before the transfer: a signed charter and shareholders' agreement covering decisions, share sales, family control, and what happens when an heir wants liquidity.
• Transfer all heir stakes into the vehicle in a coordinated sequence so the next generation holds one stake in the vehicle.
• Remove individual control rights before the transfer is complete: no heir can block a sale, force a distribution, pledge shares, or sell to an outsider outside the agreed process.
• Test the structure against a future sale: an heir can exit without breaking family control, and the operating business does not have to be sold to pay one heir.

Keep the stake governable after the transfer

The vehicle must let the family decide without a veto. Put a buy-sell process in the shareholders' agreement so an heir who wants cash can exit without forcing a sale of the operating business. Define how shares are valued, how payment is made, and how a sale to an outsider is handled.

Choose a board that can act without every heir approving routine decisions. Keep operating roles separate from ownership roles, so a capable heir can work in the company without holding control rights that outlast the job. Review the charter when the family changes, when the business changes, or when an heir asks for liquidity.