Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – January was a good month for Danish asset manager Formue Nord with the hiring of a new analyst, its special situations fund booking its best month on record and welcoming more than 40 new investors with a combined DKK 140 million in fresh capital.
The primary strategy of Formue Nord Markedsneutral revolves around funding micro-, small- and medium-sized companies via bridge financing, underwriting or buying and exercising subscription rights. The fund gained 5.5 percent in January despite stocks slumping on concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
Commenting on the fund’s January performance, the now five-member team at Formue Nord says “several of the companies we helped with financing during the fourth quarter were classic ‘January effect candidates,’ companies more likely to outperform the market in January.” As Formue Nord Markedsneutral’s strategy of underwriting rights issues entails the subscription for shares offered but not taken up by shareholders, the fund ended up owning shares in some January effect candidates. “The share prices of several of the companies that relied on us in the underwriting process at the end of 2019 increased by over 100 percent in January.”
“As for our niche of providing capital to listed companies, January, as expected, was a quiet month in terms of the number of deals,” says CIO Rasmus Viggers (pictured). “Nonetheless, we entered in a few guarantee agreements and a large financing agreement with a Danish company.” The deal activity is expected to increase towards the summer.
In anticipation of more opportunities over the next few months, Formue Nord Markedsneutral opened the fund to new investors at the beginning of January. The fund received around DKK 140 million in new capital from over 40 investors in January, with the team planning to close the doors to investors indefinitely after reaching DKK 200 million in new commitments. Formue Nord Markedsneutral had DKK 272 million in assets under management at the end of January.
The four-member team at Formue Nord has also been expanded with the hiring of Mads Krarup Johansson as an analyst. Starting from the beginning of February, Johansson works as an analyst alongside CEO Thøger Dam Johansen, CIO Rasmus Viggers, analyst Mikkel Hagel, and junior analyst Chris Albertsen. Before joining Formue Nord, Johansson worked at EjendomsFond, Rare Wine Invest, Nordea and Danske Bank in various roles.
