After 40 years abroad, Ikea’s founder Ingvar Kamprad has made ​​the decision: This fall, he will return to his farm house in Småland in south Sweden. After his wife’s death, he wants to be closer to family and friends, daily Dagens Nyheter said.

“I’m moving back to Sweden to be closer to my family and my old friends“, Ingvar Kamprad said in a comment to Sydsvenskan, through his spokesperson Per Heggenes.

“It is a natural step in the last phase of life”.

Kamprad, 87, left Sweden 1973. He founded the business in rural southern Sweden 70 years ago.

Last month Ingvar Kamprad took another step back from his company, as the youngest of his three sons took a key board role in a gradual handover of power. He stepped down in 1986 as chief executive of Ikea, which has become the world’s biggest furniture group, famous for its design and do-it-yourself assembly.

“I see this as a good time for me to leave the board of Inter Ikea Group,” Mr. Kamprad said in a statement, referring to the company that owns the Ikea brand and which collects 3 percent of Ikea stores’ sales worldwide each year.

“By that we are also taking another step in the generation shift that has been ongoing for some years,” said Mr. Kamprad, a billionaire who has been resident in Switzerland since the 1970s.

The Kamprad family still controls the complex corporate structure that makes up the Ikea empire, and Mr. Kamprad himself keeps a tight grip behind the scenes, New York Times said.