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Parts of shares: Lego heiress Sofie Kirk Kristiansen
Photo: Ritzau / Alamy Stock Photo
One of the billionaire heirs to the Lego family fortune has sold shares in the company, which controls the Danish toymaker, for around 6.32 billion kroner (about 854 million euros). Sofie Kirk Kristiansen (47), great-granddaughter of the Lego founder, sold four million shares of Kirkbi A/S for around 158,000 kroner each, Bloomberg reports, citing an entry in the Danish business register.
The proceeds were paid out as a kind of dividend and the shares were cancelled by Kirkbi. That means the other family members have increased their stakes in the family business, Kirkbi said in an email seen by Bloomberg.
"Earlier this year, Sofie Kirk Kristiansen agreed with the other shareholders to sell a small portion of their shares in Kirkbi in order to dedicate a larger portion of their time and resources to a number of conservation projects," the news agency quotes from the mail.
Kirkbi is the private holding and investment company of the Kirk Kristiansen family. It says it was founded to create a sustainable future for family ownership of the Lego brand for generations to come. Kirkbi owns 75 percent of Lego, as well as stakes in a number of companies, bonds, and real estate.
The fortune has grown to around 166 billion crowns, according to the report, which is owed before Lego's soaring profits. Lego is one of the world's largest toy manufacturers. Thomas Kirk Kristiansen (44), the brother of Sofie Kirk Kristiansen, took over the chairmanship of Kirkbi after her father, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (75), resigned from his post earlier this year.
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