Not every hedge fund conversation has to center solely on strategy, returns, or market moves. In HedgeNordic’s Quirky Questions series, we step beyond the usual metrics to explore the unique minds shaping the industry. Rather than featuring a well-known figure across the entire Nordic hedge fund industry, this time we caught up with a promising young talent, Constantijn Huigen of Ridge Capital, who brings hands-on experience from several hedge funds from the streets of Stockholm. Join us as we uncover the human side of hedge fund investing: the questions, insights, and unexpected angles that don’t often appear on a P&L statement.

• You’ve been described in meetings as a very strong analyst with real potential to become a star in the industry. Do you ever find yourself analyzing things like restaurant menus, vacation plans, or even first dates with the same intensity?

Guilty as charged! Walking around Stockholm, I can’t help but analyze every business I encounter. I’ll find myself checking who owns what – is that new café part of a chain expansion story, or a standalone with questionable unit economics?

Take going out to Trädgården, for example – it’s my favorite club in Stockholm. I love the music and atmosphere. When I am there with friends and everyone is just enjoying their drinks, I’m unconsciously trying to approximate their P&L. What’s the cost for that location under the highway? How many covers do they need to break even? What’s their margin on those cocktails? It’s a terrible location on paper, but somehow it works perfectly.

My friends have started calling it my “finance curse” – I can’t walk past a retail chain without immediately spotting potential red flags like aggressive expansion into marginal locations, unsustainable rent-to-revenue ratios, or inventory that’s clearly not moving. I tend to notice patterns that others often miss – maybe it’s how empty a restaurant is during what should be peak hours, or how the same retail concept keeps popping up in expensive locations despite questionable foot traffic.

The analytical mindset is hard to switch off, and honestly, Stockholm is a great laboratory for this. You start to see patterns in business models several steps ahead – which concepts will scale, which are just riding a trend, and which are heading for trouble. Though I’ve learned that pointing out the structural problems with someone’s favorite restaurant isn’t the best dinner conversation!

• You’ve gone from long/short equity – places like Bummer & Partners and Nordea – to high yield bond investing. What’s the biggest shift in mindset when you move from stock picking to credit analysis? Do you miss the drama of equity markets?

Having spent quite some time at equity hedge funds in both London and Stockholm, the transition to Nordic high yield has been interesting. The biggest shift is moving from a world obsessed with positioning, earnings whispers, and quarterly beat/miss dynamics to one where covenant analysis and bond terms matter more than market structure.

In long/short equity, you’re constantly monitoring sentiment shifts, technical levels, factor exposures, and maintainingbeta neutrality across your book. The Nordic high yield market moves at a completely different pace. Information that would send an equity name up or down 20% in a day might take quite some time to be reflected in bond pricing.

What’s been eye-opening is seeing the other side of the capital structure that was always a blind spot in equity analysis. When building long or short equity positions, I’d focus on fundamental analysis and growth outlook, but now I’m deep in the weeds of maintenance covenants, cash sweep mechanisms, and recovery scenarios. The legal framework suddenly matters enormously – something that was largely irrelevant in equity land.

The transition has been smooth in large part because I’m working with great colleagues – everyone’s been incredibly welcoming and supportive, which makes learning the credit world much easier. Do I miss some aspects of equity markets? In some ways, yes. There’s something intellectually satisfying about constructing a market-neutral portfolio, managing factor exposures, and watching both your longs and shorts contribute to performance. That idiosyncratic return generation is what I find myself missing most.

• As someone who’s spent time on both sides – equities and credit – do you find one side of the market more honest than the other?

Coming from a shorting background, I’d say both markets lie, but they lie about different things.

Equity markets are brilliant at maintaining fiction – especially around growth stories and management credibility. I’ve seen companies where the equity market ignored obvious red flags for quarters, sometimes years. The beauty of specializing in shorting is you learn to see through the narrative and focus on what the numbers are really telling you.

Credit markets are more honest about immediate solvency and cash flow reality – you can’t charm your way out of amissed coupon payment. But they can be surprisingly naive about long-term structural problems. I’ve seen credit investors get comfortable with covenant-lite structures and management teams that equity shorting specialists have been flagging as problematic for ages.

Honestly though, I do miss the potential for those really great trades you get on the short side. There is something satisfying about being involved in some of those quite noteworthy bankruptcies like a Steinhoff, Wirecard, or a Norwegian Air Shuttle. You don’t get those same dramatic moments in credit, even when you’re correct about a company’s problems.

The pattern recognition skills definitely transfer well between asset classes – deteriorating working capital, aggressive accounting, management credibility issues. The difference is that in credit, you’re less worried about market timing and more focused on whether you’ll actually get paid back.

• If you weren’t managing capital, where do you think your analytical brain would have taken you? Detective? Architect? Football scout?

I’ve always thought I’d have ended up starting my own business. Perhaps something in food. When I was younger, I actually wanted to become a pastry chef but ended up changing course to finance. I loved making everything from bonbons, macarons, to elaborate cakes.  there’s something very satisfying about the baking process and ending up with something delicious. I still bake from time to time on weekends, though it’s a completely different world from what I do during the week.

Alternatively, I could have seen myself end up in some research field. I’m a voracious reader with an ever-expanding collection of finance and history books piling up at home. Right now I’m working through a book on the oil industry’s origins, and it’s fascinating how this sector that barely existed 150 years ago now touches every aspect of life. I lovediving into these kinds of stories and learning how things tie together, whether that’s in finance or something completely unrelated.

The analytical mindset would probably have found an outlet either way – just with fewer spreadsheets involved.

• Having worked at several hedge funds yourself, what’s your take on the hunt for talent in the industry? How do top candidates really land their roles, is it all about networking, proven track record, or something else?

Honestly? I think it’s largely luck – being at the right place at the right time. There are tons of people with impressive CVs floating around, and simply not that many opportunities available.

The challenge for anyone starting in the industry is that you’re essentially a blank slate. You can’t point to a track record, so how do you demonstrate competence? I think it comes down to showing you can go above and beyond in ways that matter.

In hedge funds, it’s not necessarily about grinding out long hours or producing volume for the sake of it. You need to be more accurate, more right, or better price risk than others in the market. The real value comes from helping your colleagues find these new angles and gain an edge – essentially making yourself invaluable to your team’s investment process.

For me, the best way to achieve that has been working for people who genuinely inspire you and who you can learn from. I’ve taken something valuable from each PM I’ve worked with at different firms – whether it’s a new way of thinking about portfolio construction, a different approach to financial analysis, or simply how to maintain conviction when markets turn against you. That mentorship element is crucial – it’s not just about landing any role, but finding the right person to learn from.

Very few junior people are focused on this. They think it’s about showing up early and staying late, but really it’s about demonstrating that you can see what others miss, while also finding someone worth learning from. Once you prove both, opportunities tend to find you through the informal networks that really drive career moves in this industry.