The Eklöf family is strengthening its grip on Stadium, one of the leading Swedish sports retailers, by buying back the 26.8 percent stake that has been held since April 2005 by Ikano. This is a group of companies owned by the family of the late founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad. The families of Ulf and Bo Eklöf, the brothers who founded Stadium, have thus become full owners of the chain again. Ikano said that the sale comes after its strategic decision to focus on key assets. It is set to come into effect at the start of April 2019. The Eklöfs said in a statement that Stadium has grown by about 70 percent from 2005 to reach a turnover of about seven billion Swedish kronor (€666.7m-$772.0m) including VAT for the fiscal year ended in August 2017.They added that they had learned a lot from the partnership, particularly on strategic retail issues, and that they were also grateful for the opportunity to recover the shares and pursue the growth. Stadium has been led since 2015 by Karl Eklöf, Ulf's son.

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