Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – The owners of Finnish independent asset manager Northern Star Partners, which manages systematic managed futures fund NS Quant, have signed an agreement to sell the firm to Finnish investment services group Privanet Group. In connection with this deal, Northern Star’s managing partner and chief investment officer, Markku Malkamäki (pictured), has acquired the NS Quant business and the fund.

“Northern Star Partners has been sold to Privanet Group, but the team running NS Quant and the fund itself will continue as its own unit until the NS Quant business is spun out in a separate company later this year,” Kenneth Barner-Rasmussen, who manages NS Quant alongside Markku Malkamäki and analyst Markus Malkamäki, tells HedgeNordic. The unit will be spun out when a new company of Malkamäki receives an investment services license from the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority. “It is a transaction meant to purely reorganize and refocus ourselves on the NS Quant strategy and nothing else,” says Malkamäki. “We warmly thank Northern Star’s customers and partners for their cooperation so far,” says Malkamäki in a statement.

With the acquisition of Northern Star Partners, Privanet Group seeks to expand its operations to include asset management services. Besides NS Quant, Northern Star Partners also manages a UCITS-structured fund called Global Dynamic Opportunities 10+. Privanet Group’s acquisition of Northern Star is subject to approval by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority. According to a separate announcement by Privanet, Jaakko Soini will be responsible for the asset management services at Privanet Group and will act as the CEO of the acquired asset management company starting from the beginning of July.

Markku Malkamäki’s new company will retain both the team running NS Quant’s strategy and the current staff at Northern Star Partners. Malkamäki and his team aim to solely focus on managing NS Quant and the development of the strategy. The futures-based systematic long/short strategy has returned 13.7 percent since officially launching earlier this year. According to Malkamäki, “NS Quant is a new type of systematic managed futures special investment fund that has proven its ability to perform in very challenging market conditions.”