Sweden's Industrivarden ousts CEO after spending scandal

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish investment company Industrivarden's (INDUa.ST) main owners have dismissed its chief executive before his planned appointment as chairman, the latest management casualty in a corporate spending scandal centred around part-owned SCA (SCAb.ST).

Industrivarden, which also controls Volvo (VOLVb.ST), Sandvik (SAND.ST) and Handelsbanken (SHBa.ST), said its main owners no longer found it suitable for company veteran Anders Nyren to lead the board.

Nyren, who had been slated to take over as chairman at the investment company's AGM on May 6, is the third senior executive to lose his job after reports of lavish spending on flights and hunting trips at SCA.

Industrivarden, one of Sweden's biggest holding companies, said it is now proposing that financier Fredrik Lundberg, its leading shareholder, be appointed as chairman.

The holding vehicle has come under fire in recent years as shares in several of its companies have underperformed the stock market, but it became the focus of more unwanted attention this year with the scandal at hygiene products company SCA, prompting Industrivarden chairman Sverker Martin-Lof to step down earlier than planned.

Nyren had been put forward as Martin-Lof's successor but came under fire, as a member of the SCA board, for approving extensive use of SCA's company jet. Nyren's dismissal means that he also loses a string of board positions at companies controlled by Industrivarden.

The extravagant spending of corporate funds forced SCA's chief executive, Jan Johansson, to resign in February.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by David Goodman)