- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

Related

Atlant Fonder Buys the Dips

Industry Report

- Advertisement -

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Liquidity strains have impacted all parts of the Nordic corporate bond market, even the higher-quality segments. “For several years we have warned of the poor liquidity in the corporate bond market and asked ourselves who would buy when everyone needs to sell,” says Michael Ekelund (pictured), the CEO of Stockholm-based asset manager Atlant Fonder. “Now that everyone needs to sell, the prices of some bonds are unsatisfyingly low.”

After hoarding larger cash piles at its range of funds over time, Atlant Fonder “can now act as a buyer and acquire attractively-priced bonds with short maturities issued by stable companies,” says Ekelund. “We are contacted almost daily by fund companies that need to find buyers for their bonds, as fund investors want to sell their investments,” lead portfolio manager Anders Kullberg tells investerarbrevet.se. “We are in no rush and are careful about what we buy.” The team at Atlant Fonder are mostly buying short-term, high-quality credits. “Right now, we are acting opportunistically to build fine credit portfolios for the next two to three years,” says Kullberg.

The team recently bought SEB subordinated loans maturing in May 2020 and Svenska Handelsbanken subordinated loans maturing in May 2021, which are yielding 12.5 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively. Atlant Stability, one of the seven Atlant-branded hedge funds under the umbrella of Atlant Fonder, maintains the highest exposure to credit. According to Ekelund, the short-term downward pressure on bond prices weights on the near-term development of Atlant Fonder’s funds. “When the market stabilizes and recovers, the returns generated by our funds will be really good.”

Kullberg reckons that the crisis in the credit market will worsen if companies cannot borrow capital. The Norwegian state oil fund started supporting the corporate bond market by buying bonds, and the Norwegian market began to stabilize. “Sweden is also likely to support the market, and we believe the bottom will soon be reached,” Kullberg tells investerarbrevet.se. “The Riksbank and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority understand the gravity of the situation, and no one wants to risk the credit market failing,” he adds. “We believe that the credit market is well placed to recover at least 25 to 50 percent of the decline by year-end if liquidity is restored.”

Subscribe to HedgeBrev, HedgeNordic’s weekly newsletter, and never miss the latest news!

Our newsletter is sent once a week, every Friday.

Eugeniu Guzun
Eugeniu Guzun
Eugeniu Guzun serves as a data analyst responsible for maintaining and gatekeeping the Nordic Hedge Index, and as a journalist covering the Nordic hedge fund industry for HedgeNordic. Eugeniu completed his Master’s degree at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2018. Write to Eugeniu Guzun at eugene@hedgenordic.com

Latest Articles

Rising Adoption of Quantitative Investment Strategies Among Nordic Investors

From a high-level perspective, there is a clear trend of increasing adoption of quantitative investment strategies (QIS) among Nordic institutional investors, either through the...

EU Plans Stress Test for Hedge Funds and Non-Bank Firms

European regulators are planning a stress test to identify vulnerabilities beyond the traditional banking sector, focusing on less regulated entities such as hedge funds,...

ALCUR Fonder Continues Hiring Spree

Following two earlier additions this year, ALCUR Fonder continues to expand its portfolio management team at a notable pace. The Stockholm-based hedge fund boutique...

Nordic Private Markets Modernize with Data-Centric Trade Lifecycle Automation

By Anders Stengaard Jensen at Indus Valley Partner: In recent years, asset managers in Nordic countries have accelerated efforts to modernize trade operations, particularly...

Norwegian Hedge Fund Industry Sees Major Boost with New Launch

The Swedish and Danish hedge fund industries remain closely matched in size, with Denmark recently edging ahead of Sweden. While still less than half...

Atlant Funds Hold Up in May Despite Mistimed Market Call

Macroeconomic and market forecasts are notoriously difficult, even for experienced hedge fund managers. What matters more than being right, however, is ensuring that incorrect...

Allocator Interviews

In-Depth: High Yield

Voices

Request for Proposal

- Advertisement -
HedgeNordic
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.