Fairford is a family-owned investment company with almost 30 years of experience, based in Sweden and the UK. Our interests cover many different sectors. We focus on developing niche companies that we deem to have good development potential and to which we can add most value.
We know that we need to take a long-term approach to achieve sustainable value and success. We need patience, commitment, courage, trust and openness. We also need the solid foundation of professional structures that we have built up over a long period of time and continue to develop.
At Fairford, we work like a family towards shared goals and treat each other with respect. We believe that entrepreneurial spirit, enjoyment and a balanced working environment are essential to success.
Collective experience and the desire to seek new knowledge underpin Fairford. We are curious, learn constantly and develop new skills to benefit our companies. This allows us to adapt to change so we remain strong in the future.
Fairford was founded by Salah Osseiran and Bengt A Dahl in the early 1990s. Respectively, they were a businessman from Lebanon and the CEO of a local investment company in Jämtland, Sweden, who met through a serendipitous business transaction. So began their friendship and a 30-year journey resulting in the group of companies we now call Fairford. Both Salah and Bengt remain actively involved in operations, continuing to spread the informal culture we cherish.
Fairford is owned by the Osseiran family, which has been investing in the Middle East, Europe and the US since the 1980s. The family is domiciled in Lebanon and the Middle East, where they manage their local investments. With the long-term committment of a single family as owner, Fairford is well placed to continue to develop its operations over generations to come.
Fairford is an informal, flexible organisation that does not compromise on professionalism and ambition. We aim for a high level of integrity, honesty and transparency in our working environment. We summarise our values as family feel, long-term approach and continuous learning.
As an active, attentive partner, we seek opportunities with development potential across the board. We own companies in a range of different sectors and at different stages of development. Our companies are based in Sweden and the UK but in many cases they have a global presence. We prefer to be the majority shareholder and typically invest SEK 50–150 million each time. However, we have full freedom to go beyond these limits when it feels right. It is essential for us to have consensus about how business is conducted, and we look for people and companies that share our fundamental values.
As we have our head office in Östersund, in Sweden, we mainly sponsor local sports organisations, but we also support specific projects at selected international organisations. Among other things, we are a proud sponsor of SOS Barnbyar, the world’s largest non-governmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care, or at risk of losing it, and of the Guldklubban (Golden Gavel) award with the aim of clarifying and increasing awareness of the important role of the Chair of the Board.