Organisation, ownership and investor relations

Organisation

The COWI Group is organised into five business lines, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, UK and International, and North America. We have three priority market sectors, Infrastructure, Buildings and Industry, and Renewable energy.

Ownership

The Group’s parent company, COWI Holding A/S, is an unlisted Danish public company owned by COWIfonden, COWIfonden Invest ApS,  and present and former employees.

COWIfonden

COWIfonden is a commercial, independent foundation holding a majority of the shares in COWI Holding A/S.

The object of the Foundation is to create a stable basis for COWI Holding A/S and to support research and development relating to Danish engineering. COWlfonden supports the growth and development of the COWI Group. 

According to the foundation instrument, COWIfonden is to retain its controlling interest and to ensure that COWI keeps its financial independence through self-financing, employee-financing or by injection of external capital.

In connection with capital increases in COWI Holding A/S or mergers with other companies the Foundation may give up its position as holder of the majority of shares in the company, if necessary in order to retain and develop the commercial activities as a competitive business at an international level.

COWIfonden and COWIfonden Invest Aps combined holds approximately 90% of the share capital of COWI Holding A/S, including all A shares. (May 2025)

Visit COWIfonden's homepage

Other shareholders of COWI Holding A/S

Approximately 10 per cent of the share capital of COWI Holding A/S is held by present and former employees of the COWI Group. (May 2025)

COWI wishes to achieve a broadly based co-ownership among employees. 

Investor relations

COWI Holding A/S

COWI Holding A/S is the Group's holding company, established in 2010, and owned by COWIfonden, COWIfonden Invest ApS and COWI employees. COWI Holding A/S in an unlisted Danish public limited liability company.

The involvement of COWI employees in the circle of owners is an important part of COWI's strategy.

We believe that employee ownership will increase cooperation within the COWI Group and strengthen coherence between performance and the employees' competencies and efforts.

In short, having employees in the circle of owners is an important premise for COWI’s future success.

COWIfonden holds A shares and B shares (approximately 79 pct. of the share capital). COWIfonden Invest ApS holds A shares (approximately 11 pct. of the share capital.) (May 2025)

The shares

COWI Holding A/S can at its sole discretion offer empoyees of the COWI Group to acquire B shares.

Who can acquire shares?

When B shares in COWI Holding A/S are made available for subscription, such shares can be acquired by COWI Group employees and management in COWI Holding A/S and COWI Foundation provided:

• The employee is employed with a COWI Group company in territories where the employee share program is made available. Applicable territories are determined annually in connection with the annual general meeting.
• The employee has not handed in a resignation, been terminated or been laid off at the time the B shares are purchased.

Employees, management in COWI Holding A/S and COWI Foundation may acquire as many of the available B shares according to a sales offer as they wish, provided that no individual at any time can hold a total number of B Shares exceeding a fixed limit of 0.5% of the share capital issued in COWI Holding A/S.

The share price

The B share price is determined by the company’s book value which is defined by the company's net worth divided by its share capital.

A new share price is calculated every year after the annual general meeting. This price will last until the following year's annual general meeting.

Selling shares

Sale of B shares is done via COWI's shareholder portal with Computershare. COWI's shareholder portal can be found here.

Annually, in connection with the opening of the share trading window, current and former employees will receive an email with a link to the shareholder portal.

Shareholders may sell the B shares in the annual share trading window (within 4 weeks after the annual general meeting) and there is no period of commitment before it is possible to sell. However, local variations and/or legal requirements may be applicable in some countries.

Former employees

If the shareholder's employment with the COWI Group is discontinued, the shareholder is under an obligation to sell back B shares in the first coming sales window (within 4 weeks after the annual general meeting). However, in certain instances former employees may keep the B shares for an additional three-year period. (Learn more by reading Terms for possession of B shares under Read more.

Disclaimer

The content of this web site is made available as a service and for information purposes only. While we have attempted to maintain the information as accurate as possible, this general information about the COWI Share Programme does not replace, amend, alter or in any other way modify the terms and conditions set out in the Terms of possession of B shares or similar terms or conditions as individually agreed and accepted by the shareholders as part of the acquisition and/or possession of shares.