LONDON - Cevian Capital, an activist investment firm, said on Tuesday that it had increased its stake in the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp to more than 15 percent from 11 percent last year.
The investment firm has been gradually increasing its position in the troubled German company, and its stake is now worth about 1.6 billion euros, or $2.2 billion.
Like American activist investors, Cevian Capital pushes for changes in companies in which it has invested, but it generally prefers a low-key European-style approach and has supported ThyssenKrupp’s management so far.
Since being hired from Siemens and becoming ThyssenKrupp’s chief executive in 2011, Heinrich Hiesinger has made it clear that he wants to change the mind-set and business mix of the company, which has posted big losses in recent years and had to raise about €880 million in fresh capital from the financial markets last year.
Mr. Hiesinger, who has replaced a large proportion of senior managers and sold several businesses, has said he wants to focus on the company’s more valuable industrial businesses. Last year, he agreed to sell a steel rolling mill in Calvert, Ala., to a joint venture of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal for about $1.5 billion.
The company’s stock price, which rose about 2.5 percent in trading in Frankfurt on Tuesday, has increased about 18 percent in the last year.
“Cevian underlines its long-term commitment in ThyssenKrupp,†the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.
Cevian Capital was founded in 2002 by Christer Gardell and Lars Förberg, who both worked at the private equity firm Nordic Capital. It has offices in London, Zurich and Stockholm, and says it manages €10 billion in investments.
In its statement, Cevian listed 12 companies in which it has stakes of 5 percent or more; it holds more than 10 percent of the Volvo Group, the Swedish truck maker, and 9.3 percent of Danske Bank, the largest Danish bank.
