Akelius is currently having a large company event for all employees in Berlin.

Last night CEO Pål Ahlsén announced the happy news to the employees: the monthly wages are immediately increased by 20 percent.

“It started with an e-mail from Roger in January. He said he did not want anything for his 70th birthday, he prefers giving rather than receiving. Instead he thought everyone should get a salary raise of 20 percent. At first I did not believe it, it took a few emails back and forth for it to sink in” says Pål Ahlsén to Nordic Property News.

The cost of this raise is approximately MSEK 50 (€5M) annually. “There were big celebrations yesterday when I got to announce this to the staff. Mainly for Roger of course, but it spilled over the messenger as well”, Pål Ahlsén laughs.

I suppose you celebrated after this last night?

“It was a party. But I feel great today”, Pål Ahlsén said to Fastighetssverige just after eight on Friday morning.

Comment from Roger Akelius himself: “Talking about appreciation is not enough, you need to show it as well.”

Akelius Residential Property owns properties in Sweden, Germany, France, Canada and USA, at a total value of almost SEK 60 billion (€6.5 billion).