Ericsson and CEO Boerje Ekholm have been criticised heavily
in the past year for their handling of an internal probe into the company's
operations in Iraq and a scandal involving potential payments to the Islamic
State.
The shareholders, including several investment firms and
pension funds, have filed separate lawsuits with a Swedish court but their
actions are coordinated, the paper reported.
"Ericsson disputes the claims in their entirety and intends
to defend itself vigorously in this matter, which is unprecedented in Swedish
litigation and contrary to fundamental principles of Swedish corporate
law," the company said in an emailed statement.
The Swedish court did not respond after business hours to a
request for comment.
Dagens Industri said the shareholders are demanding
compensation for a sharp drop in Ericsson shares since February 16, 2022, after
the paper published CEO Ekholm's disclosure in an interview of an internal
report about company activities in Iraq. The share price has halved since then
to 52.71 crowns on Friday.
In May this year, Nasdaq Stockholm concluded a review of the
company's public disclosures concerning the report.
It found that it "cannot come to the conclusion that
the content of the report was such that a reasonable investor would have used
such information as part of his/her investment decision." © Reuters
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