Peter Andersland is best known in the Nordic hedge fund space as the co-founder of Sector Asset Management, where he remains a shareholder. While Sector has evolved into a multi-team platform housing different strategies, Andersland has in recent years focused on building something more unified: an investment platform anchored in a single philosophy and process. That vision is now taking shape at Coda Partners, which he co-founded together with Knut Børsheim and Harald Thorstein.
“At Coda Partners, we want one philosophy and one process,” says Andersland. The foundation of this approach was laid in 2022, when he launched a thematic long/short equity strategy under Pensum Asset Management. Coda’s clearly defined specialization and process are already bearing fruit, with the young asset manager attracting a client base of sophisticated investors in the US and UK. These investors access the strategy through separately managed accounts (SMAs), paying primarily for idiosyncratic alpha. At the same time, the team was keen to broaden access beyond institutional clients.
This led to the acquisition of Andersland’s former fund from Pensum last December, while preserving its core identity: deep fundamental research applied through a thematic lens, combined with a rules-based framework governing position entry, sizing, portfolio management, and exit. “The investment philosophy and process is something you build over many years. You gradually adapt what works and what doesn’t,” Andersland explains. “Some of us are slow learners, so it took me 40 years to get here.”
“The investment philosophy and process is something you build over many years. You gradually adapt what works and what doesn’t. Some of us are slow learners, so it took me 40 years to get here.”
Peter Andersland
To illustrate the philosophy, Andersland draws on Børsheim’s background as a professional golfer, where performance is broken down into individual components and improved systematically. Børsheim, who previously worked in Pareto’s New York office, at a hedge fund in London, and later founded an advisory business focused on distressed companies, joined as co-portfolio manager not to change the strategy, but to refine and strengthen it. “It’s not about doing something completely different,” says Andersland. “It’s about doing the same thing, but much better and much more systematically.”
Børsheim echoes this view, emphasizing both Andersland’s experience across multiple market cycles and the complementary perspectives they bring to the partnership. “There are very few people who have managed money through three bear markets. That experience is extremely valuable,” says Børsheim. “At the same time, we come from slightly different perspectives, which strengthens the partnership.”
From Cognimetrica to Coda
The intellectual roots of the strategy go back to the early 2000s, when Andersland developed a strategy called Sector Cognimetrica. “Cogni” represented human judgment, while “Metrica” reflected quantitative discipline, a combination he describes as “quantamental.” Coda Global Opportunities follows the same core idea: using fundamental expertise to identify attractive profit pools, determine winners and losers within those pools, and implement positioning through a structured, rules-based decision process.
“We look at around 50 of the most cyclical industries globally and try to understand where profits will be in the future, not where they are today. That creates winners and losers across industries. Our job is to identify those shifts and position accordingly.”
Peter Andersland
The strategy focuses primarily on cyclical industries, which the team analyzes within a global supply chain framework. “We look at around 50 of the most cyclical industries globally and try to understand where profits will be in the future, not where they are today,” Andersland explains. This forward-looking perspective is particularly relevant in an environment shaped by geopolitical shifts and structural disruptions. “That creates winners and losers across industries. Our job is to identify those shifts and position accordingly.” While the team’s specialization and experience provide a clear edge in cyclicals, Andersland is quick to stress that this alone is not sufficient. “That is only the raw material,” he says. “It is the process that makes it fundable.”
Process Over Intuition
While the philosophy remains unchanged, the evolution at Coda has been about strengthening execution. With additional resources following Børsheim’s arrival, the team has been able to deepen coverage and refine how decisions are made. “The investment philosophy has stayed the same,” says Børsheim. “What has changed is that we now have more bandwidth and are sharpening the process. We are building a stronger decision-making framework around a shared philosophy.”
This framework is particularly important in cyclical investing, where price movements can be sharp and sentiment-driven. Without discipline, investment decisions can easily become reactive. “Prices move a lot in cyclical industries,” Børsheim explains. “If you don’t have discipline, you can easily be taken for a ride. This framework helps us stay consistent.”
“The investment philosophy has stayed the same. What has changed is that we now have more bandwidth and are sharpening the process. We are building a stronger decision-making framework around a shared philosophy.”
Knut Børsheim
Andersland breaks the process into distinct components: idea generation (what to buy or short), position sizing, timing of entry, execution approach, position management, and exit strategy. “What we want to do is build the organization around improving each of these steps,” he says. “Instead of focusing only on performance attribution, we focus on decision attribution, understanding where value is created in the process.”
Coda is a contributing partner with CenterBook Partners, a $1 billion-plus multi-manager platform that allocates capital across external portfolio managers. Within this setup, Coda’s research and positions are continuously assessed and selectively funded by CenterBook. “It means that a $1B+ multi-manager continuously evaluates our research quality, idea freshness, position sizing, and ultimately our ability to generate alpha, while also committing its own capital behind our work,” explains Andersland. “Naturally, this benefits all our investors, as CenterBook provides an independent layer of validation from an investor whose own returns depend directly on the quality of our process.”
From Short Bias to Investor Product
When the strategy was first launched in 2022, it was intentionally structured as a short-biased hedge fund, designed to generate returns with negative market exposure. Over the period through 2024, the strategy exhibited a beta of around minus 0.5 and delivered positive alpha of approximately three percent annually. However, despite these characteristics, Andersland acknowledges that the strategy in its original form was not well-suited as a commercial product. “Very few investors are interested in that type of profile.”
A shift in portfolio construction has since transformed the strategy. “The goal is to maintain zero correlation to the market, not negative beta,” says Andersland. This adjustment played a role in Coda Global Opportunities delivering a return of 39 percent in 2025 and emerging as one of the top performers in the Nordic hedge fund space.
“It may sound simplistic, but what matters to investors is drawdown. Volatility matters in theory, but in practice, what keeps you up at night is being down.”
Knut Børsheim
At the same time, the team has redefined its risk focus, placing greater emphasis on drawdowns rather than volatility. “We are targeting around 15 percent returns with similar levels of volatility, but the key constraint is drawdown,” Andersland explains. “For most investors, a drawdown beyond 15 percent is very difficult to tolerate, and recovery needs to happen within roughly 18 months.”
Børsheim reinforces this perspective, noting that while volatility is an important theoretical measure, it is drawdowns that ultimately matter to investors in practice. “It may sound simplistic, but what matters to investors is drawdown,” adds Børsheim. “Volatility matters in theory, but in practice, what keeps you up at night is being down.”
Getting the Theme Right
Despite improvements in process and portfolio construction, both managers emphasize that thematic positioning remains the dominant driver of returns. “That’s where we spend most of our time,” says Børsheim. “In cyclical industries, if you get the theme wrong, you’re not going to make money. Even if you pick the best stock within the wrong theme, you will still lose.” As a rule of thumb, he estimates that roughly two-thirds of returns come from getting the theme right, with the remaining third driven by stock selection.
As a result, a significant portion of the team’s effort is devoted to continuously reassessing their investment themes. This involves challenging assumptions, monitoring changes in market dynamics, and ensuring that the original thesis remains intact. “We are still stock pickers within those themes, but the theme has to be right first.”
“In cyclical industries, if you get the theme wrong, you’re not going to make money. Even if you pick the best stock within the wrong theme, you will still lose.”
Knut Børsheim
Timing within the cycle is equally critical. Andersland emphasizes the importance of identifying inflection points in industries where returns on capital are set to improve, rather than simply investing based on valuation. “On the long side, we look for industries where returns on capital are set to improve,” Andersland says. “We are looking for inflection points, not just cheap valuations.”
Given the inherent uncertainty around timing, the team initially positions in higher-quality companies with stronger balance sheets. As visibility improves, exposure shifts toward smaller or more leveraged names. “Even if a theme plays out over two to five years, individual positions are held for shorter periods,” Andersland explains. “Within a single cycle, we can capture multiple opportunities.” As capital flows into a theme and price discovery accelerates, turnover naturally increases. “That allows us to revisit and monetize the same theme multiple times.”
Decision-Making Under Uncertainty
Looking ahead, Andersland’s ambition extends beyond performance metrics. His goal is to build a world-class investment practice centered on decision-making under uncertainty. In financial markets, outcomes are inherently probabilistic, making it difficult to assess skill based solely on results. “Fund managers operate under uncertainty, not certainty,” Andersland concludes. “Outcomes alone are not a reliable measure of skill. What matters is decision quality. If you consistently make good decisions, good outcomes will follow over time.” At the same time, early results and investor reception provide tangible validation. “The response our young firm has received from some of the large, highly sophisticated investors is clearly a sign that we are doing something right,” says Børsheim.
