IKEA will be run by younger blood
Ingvar Kamprad at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, on 17 May, 2013.

Sweden's Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, 84, is stepping down from Inter Ikea Holding SA's board and will hand over control to his youngest son Mathias Kamprad.

The Ikea brand is run by a number of entities. Inter IKEA Holding SA is owned by a foundation based in Liechtenstein. It is the main holding company in Ikea's complex corporate structure.

One of the holding companies, The Ingka holding company, is a separate company which operates about 300 Ikea furniture stores world-wide.

Mathias, will become chairman of the board of Inter Ikea Holding SA, which controls the Inter Ikea Group that in turn owns the Ikea brand.

"I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter IKEA Group. By that we are also taking another step in the generation shift that has been ongoing for some years," said Ingvar Kamprad in a statement.

Mathias will replace Chairman Per Ludvigsson, 70, who for some years has been planning to retire as chairman of Inter Ikea Holding. Prior to his appointment, Mathias, the youngest of three sons, served as director of the board, the statement said.

The Complex Ikea Structure

The Kamprad family controls Ikea through a complex corporate structure comprising of foundations and associated firms.

Ingvar is the chairman of the Dutch-registered Stichting Ingka Foundation, which controls the Ikea Group, the owner of 302 of the 343 Ikea stores the world over.

Ingvar also serves on the board of the family-managed Interogo Foundation, which in turn owns the Inter Ikea Group. Every year, the Inter Ikea Group collects 3% of Ikea stores' sales the world over annually.

Mathias too serves on the board of the Interogo Foundation.

His siblings Jonas and Peter have roles on boards within the groups.

The Inter IKEA Group reported a surge in net profit to €443m (£378m / $579m) for 2012, from €87m (£74m / $113m) a year before, owing to a trademark transfer transaction. Interogo turned over the IKEA trademark to the Group and invested €3.6m in it.

Ingvar said his association with IKEA would carry on. "I will continue to spend time in the stores and in the factories to work with people and help achieve constant improvement. Our journey has just started."