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Collection Overview

Creator:
Kreuger & Toll
Title:
Kreuger & Toll Company Records
Repository:
Public Policy Papers
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/r207tp34f
Dates:
1911-1952 (mostly 1930-1939)
Size:
105 boxes
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-105
Language:
English Swedish

Abstract

The Kreuger & Toll Company, founded by Ivar Kreuger, was the holding company of an international match trust based in Sweden whose securities were popular during the 1920s. The company was organized as a giant pyramid scheme and went bankrupt in 1932. The Kreuger & Toll Company Records document the company's bankruptcy and include court and legal documents and accountants' reports.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

The Kreuger & Toll Company Records document the company's bankruptcy and include court and legal documents and accountants' reports. The majority of the records consist of the files of Edward S. Greenbaum, the trustee for the American estate of Ivar Kreuger. The records also include reports prepared by the accounting firm Price, Waterhouse and Co. and legal and financial documents regarding Kreuger & Toll's operations and its subsidiaries and creditors.

Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.

Collection Creator Biography:

Kreuger & Toll

The Kreuger & Toll Company, founded by Ivar Kreuger, was the holding company of an international match trust based in Sweden whose securities were popular during the 1920s. The company was organized as a giant pyramid scheme and went bankrupt in 1932. The company consisted of over 250 subsidiaries, the two largest being the Swedish Match Company, based in Stockholm, and its American subsidiary, the International Match Corporation. Kreuger & Toll also granted millions of dollars in loans to European and South American governments in need of funds following World War I in return for match monopolies or other trade concessions. Kreuger (1880-1932) was a Swedish civil engineer who worked first in the United States and then in Sweden, specializing in building with steel and concrete and speculating in real estate. He earned a reputation as a shrewd and reliable businessman, which later allowed him to obtain credit in almost any country. He took over his father's small match-making factory in 1913, and also at that time formed the construction engineering firm of Kreuger & Toll with a partner, Paul Toll. They soon merged the match company into Kreuger & Toll. Paul Toll only participated in the operations of the engineering branch of the firm, while Kreuger began to seek control of the Swedish match industry. Kreuger controlled the company and made all the important decisions for Kreuger & Toll throughout the company's history. Difficulties experienced by the Swedish match industry due to competition from foreign factories allowed Kreuger & Toll to acquire control of eleven independent factories under the firm the United Swedish Match Factories. Pressure from the export slump caused by World War I allowed for further acquisitions. The company soon gained control of the entire Swedish match industry under the holding company the Swedish Match Company, which was formed in 1917 as a subsidiary of Kreuger & Toll. Following World War I, Kreuger & Toll began to expand beyond Sweden, acquiring factories throughout Europe, as well as shares in paper mills, forests and logging rights, machine-making workshops, and chlorate of potash factories, controlling the production of matches from the raw materials through to the finished product. The company grew to own or control approximately 250 factories in 43 countries in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. By 1928, Kreuger & Toll controlled more than half of the world's match production, which increased to 90% by the end of 1930. Kreuger & Toll also ultimately included a pulp company, a gold mine, an iron company, a telephone company, shares in a real estate enterprise, and a chain of banks and investing companies throughout Europe. Kreuger & Toll formed the International Match Corporation in the United States in 1923, and transferred the majority of its European factories to this daughter company. After that, most international activity was carried out through the International Match Corporation. However, the corporation remained under Swedish control. Directors were largely Swedish, with Kreuger as the head. Swedish control over Kreuger & Toll was preserved through the sale of two types of shares. The A shares, with full voting rights, could only be sold in Sweden. The B shares sold to foreign investors only carried 1 vote for every 1,000 shares. Kreuger & Toll expanded beyond match production, granting millions of dollars in loans to European and South American governments in need of funds following World War I. In return for the loans, Kreuger & Toll received a match monopoly or other trade concessions, eventually acquiring monopolies in fifteen countries and concessions in many others. The loans redistributed capital around the globe in a way that governments had been unable achieve. Kreuger was hailed as a financial genius by some of the most distinguished economists and financiers of the time, and was lauded as the "Savior of Europe" and even the "Savior of the World." He was knighted by France, became an advisor to presidents and kings and a frequent visitor to President Herbert Hoover's White House, served as a peacemaker for the League of Nations at the Hague, and was suggested as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Kreuger & Toll loaned more than $300 million to foreign governments, typically through the International Match Corporation. The funds were obtained from investors, largely the American public, through the sale of Kreuger & Toll securities and the securities of its subsidiaries. The securities were very popular, especially with small investors, because they were issued in small denominations and had high, regular dividends, over 20% annually. Kreuger & Toll stocks and bonds were the most-widely held securities in the United States and throughout the world during the 1920s. However, dividends were so high because by 1924 they were largely paid out of capital instead of from profit. Later investigation of the company's finances concluded that dividends of only 1.5% were justified by the profits of the match industry. To raise sufficient funds to provide loans for governments, Kreuger needed to induce higher sales of Kreuger & Toll securities, which he achieved through increasing dividends. Capital from the purchase of new securities was also required to pay the interest and dividends on outstanding securities. The system depended on the constant input of new capital, essentially a giant pyramid scheme. When the stock market crashed in 1929, Kreuger & Toll securities continued to sell well, and unlike other corporations it never suspended dividend or interest payments. In fact, since its dividends were not based on profit, the Depression did not initially effect the company. However, as the legitimate businesses of Kreuger & Toll began making less money and investors had less money to purchase new stocks, Kreuger & Toll began to experience financial difficulties, as there was not enough new capital being invested to sustain the pyramid scheme. Also at that time, Kreuger made loans to Germany, Poland, and took a share of the Young loan, over-extending the company's finances. In an effort to recover, he put large sums into Paris real estate, pawned assets, and finally forged Italian State bonds with a face value of 21 million pounds, hoping to use them to bolster his credit, but he was unable to rectify the company's financial problems. Ivar Kreuger committed suicide on March 12, 1932. Initially, the world mourned him as a victim of the Depression. After Kreuger's death, the accounting firm Price, Waterhouse & Co. examined the finances of Kreuger & Toll to determine if it was viable to continue as a company without the founder, and the auditors quickly began to uncover Kreuger & Toll's true financial state. They discovered a quarter of a billion dollars in reported assets had never existed. In addition to the many legitimate businesses of Kreuger & Toll, many were only shell corporations. Some were created in small European countries to avoid income taxes, and others had been created to generate profits on paper to allow high dividend payments. The company was declared bankrupt in Sweden on May 24, 1932 and in the United States on August 6, 1932, the largest bankruptcy on record at that time. Thousands of investors, university endowment funds, and banks lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Kreuger had been able to keep his financial manipulations secret because he never permitted an audit of the company while he was alive. Kreuger maintained that the only information investors needed was a corporation's dividend policy. If any investment bankers demanded an audited balance sheet, Kreuger refused to deal with them, and because of the high demand and high dividends of Kreuger & Toll's securities, no investment banker was willing to risk that loss. Investors instead based their purchasing decisions on dividend payments, the reputation of Ivar Kreuger, and the prestige of the brokerage firm Lee, Higginson & Company that had underwritten the American securities. Kreuger was further protected by a corporate culture of secrecy practiced by many firms at that time. Kreuger even maintained secrecy within the organization. The subsidiaries were financially linked but administratively isolated, ensuring that only Kreuger was controlling the company as a whole. He revealed little even to his directors, who did not attend directors' meetings or receive financial reports. Indeed, the company kept relatively few financial records. Later court testimony revealed that Kreuger prepared the financial statements issued by his companies without reference to any statistics or ledgers, and had his accountants create books to match those financial statements. Price, Waterhouse & Co. was retained as an impartial fact-finder and conducted a thorough investigation of all of the Kreuger & Toll companies. The location and distribution of the majority of the company's assets was handled by a Swedish committee of five liquidators. Assets in the United States were managed by a trustee, first Gordon Auchincloss and then, beginning on February 18, 1933, Edward S. Greenbaum. In addition to creditors, the subsidiaries also made substantial claims against Kreuger & Toll and each other. The internal affairs of the company were difficult to decipher due to Kreuger's manipulations of the assets between Kreuger & Toll, subsidiaries and himself, and conflicting, sometimes fraudulent, books. Swedish Match Company was one of the few principle companies able to avoid bankruptcy. Claims between Kreuger & Toll companies were settled in 1936, and the final payments of dividends to the holders of Kreuger & Toll securities were made in 1938. Within two months of the bankruptcy, there were calls in the United States for legislation to prevent frauds of a similar nature. Federal securities legislation had been considered in Congress since 1918, and the public outcry and media coverage of the Kreuger & Toll fraud provided some of the impetus to finally pass the laws. In 1933, the first securities act was passed.

Collection History

Acquisition:

This collection was donated by Edward S. Greenbaum in December 1960 and December 1961 , and by Leon H. Cook in October 1963 and October 1968 .

Custodial History

A transfer of stock certificates and a publication from the Swedish Match Company came from the Manuscripts Division in 2012. The accession number for this accrual is ML.2012.028.

Appraisal

Swedish American Investment Corporation stock certificates, reports on Latin American banking, and blank financial forms of the E.G. Lang Manufacturing Company were separated from this collection. A small sample of the stock certificates was retained in the collection. Publications have been separated from this collection to be cataloged separately.

Sponsorship:

These records were processed with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson, Christopher Shannon, and Karen Okigbo in 2006. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in February 2007.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, any copyright vested in the donor has passed to The Trustees of Princeton University and researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of donor-created materials within the collection. For materials in the collection not created by the donor, or where the material is not an original, the copyright is likely not held by the University. In these instances, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have a question about who owns the copyright for an item, you may request clarification by contacting us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Kreuger & Toll Company Records; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/r207tp34f
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-105

Find More

Related Materials

A small collection of the records of the accounting firm Klein, Hinds & Finke on The Kreuger Match Case (International Match Corporation) is located at the University of Florida.

This collection is part of a group of 28 Mudd Manuscript Library collections related to 20th century economic thought and development which were processed as part of a National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded project. Researchers wishing to access these collections should search for the subject "Economics--20th century" or related terms in the Princeton University Library Main Catalog. A collection at the Mudd Manuscript Library of particular relevance to the Kreuger & Toll Company Records is the papers of Edward S. Greenbaum, trustee for the American estate of Ivar Kreuger.

Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the organizational history: "Exploring the Kreuger Legend," by Harold Callender. The New York Times, July 24, 1932. "Ivar Kreuger's Contribution to U.S. Financial Reporting," by Dale L. Flesher and Tonya K. Flesher. The Accounting Review, vol. 61, no. 3, July 1986. "Match Trust Head is Industry's New Titan," by Clair Price. The New York Times, September 30, 1928. Materials from Series 2: Greenbaum, Edward S., Files; Kreuger & Toll Company Records; Public Policy Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Subject Terms:
Bankruptcy -- Sweden -- Cases.
Bankruptcy -- United States -- Cases.
Bankruptcy trustees -- United States.
Business enterprises -- Corrupt practices.
Debtor and creditor.
Economics -- 20th century.
International business enterprises.
Law -- United States -- Cases.
Match industry -- Sweden.
Genre Terms:
Correspondence
Legal documents.
Reports.
Names:
Kreuger & Toll
Price, Waterhouse & Co.
Greenbaum, Edward S. (Edward Samuel), 1890-1970
Kreuger, Ivar, 1880-1932