Michael Treschow, chairman of Ericsson, reacted with sadness when he was notified that Carl-Henrik Svanberg were stepping down.

Carl-Henrik Svanberg’s resignation was expected. Still, Michael Treschow was stunned and sad when he got the news.

“My first reaction was ‘Damn!’ – then I started thinking about what to do”, he said to journalists on Thursday after the announcement that Carl-Henrik Svanberg leaves the post as CEO of Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson.“This time I felt that the leadership could stay within the company”.

The decision to name the company’s finance officer Hans Vestberg as new head of the firm was quite easy for the board of directors to make, Michael Treschow said according to business daily Dagens Industri.

“The first time I met him was in Mexico 2003 when we were cleaning up the mess there”, Michael Treschow said.

“He’s the right man for the job. But it will be tough because we have very high expectations”.