Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Activist investor Accendo Capital has expanded its investment team by hiring Nicholas Bianco as a portfolio manager. Based out of Accendo’s Malta office, Bianco is joining the activist investor’s three-member investment team consisting of Henri Österlund, Mark H. Shay and Kai Tavakka.
“We are delighted to welcome to the Accendo investment team Nicholas Bianco,” writes the Accendo team on LinkedIn. “Nicholas joins us with over 10 years of experience in investing across the full spectrum of the capital structure in various roles from event-driven funds to working closely with both public and private companies directly,” adds the team. “Welcome on board Nicholas Bianco.”
“We are delighted to welcome to the Accendo investment team Nicholas Bianco.”
Nicholas Bianco (pictured on the right) joins Accendo Capital from Hili Company, an internationally-focused group incorporating capabilities in logistics, renewable energy and real estate, where he served as Director of M&A for close to three years. Prior to that, Bianco was a director of Main Street Capital, a boutique M&A house providing specialist M&A advisory services. Before co-founding Main Street Capital, Bianco worked at Mediterranean Bank (now MeDirect Bank), where he was responsible for evaluating prospective primary and secondary market investments within the Western European leveraged finance universe. Before that, Bianco was an analyst at Oceanwood Capital Management, a European-focused, event-driven hedge fund, where he was part of a small team analyzing special situations.
Accendo Capital invests in listed small-cap companies in the Nordic region to create shareholder value through active ownership. The fund, which oversees €234 million in assets under management as of the end of March, has a particular focus on companies driving or benefitting from technological innovation. Accendo Capital has generated an annualized return of 16.1 percent since launching in early 2008 through the end of March this year. Accendo has been enjoying a particularly great ride over the past few years, with its concentrated portfolio delivering an annualized return of 41.2 percent in the past 36 months ending March.
