Pumping billions – fluid handling family in rich list

Trond Mohn and Marit Mohn Westlake are featured in the Sunday Times Rich List for 2017. The brother and sister owe much of their fortune to the cargo pumps industry.

Ranked at 76 on the run-down of the world’s wealthiest, Trond and sister Marit have moved up eight places from their 2006 position. The Sunday Times estimates the pair’s fortune at £1.62bn (€1.9 billion).

Much of their money comes from Frank Mohn AS, the company founded and named after their father in 1938. Marketed as Framo, the company specialises in making pumps for use in marine and offshore drilling. In 2014, the Mohn family sold the business to Swedish industrial conglomerate Alfa Laval for $2.2 billion (€2 billion). At the time, Trond Mohn owned a 48% stake in Framo.

The sale came just before a collapse in both the oil and shipping industries.

‘Norway’s top taxpayer’, Trond has a reputation for philanthropy and charity, including a $135 million (€123 million) donation to a Norwegian cancer research foundation in December 2014.

“I pay my taxes with joy. I am proud of my contribution and proud to contribute to the community”, Trond Mohn told The Sunday Times in 2015 after paying £30 million (€35.5 million) tax on his £84 million (€99 million) earnings.

Framo’s portfolio of products includes submerged cargo pumps, transportable pumping systems, oil-recovery equipment, anti-heeling systems and offshore pumping systems.