Norwegian boutique Norselab Credit Management is launching its fourth fund in less than four years, expanding its credit platform into the highly cyclical shipping, oil service and exploration and production sectors. Norselab Shipping & Energy launches with NOK 1 billion in committed capital from the Odfjell family, which is acting as anchor investor. The launch also marks the addition of Christoffer Møllerløkken, an equity research analyst with two decades of experience covering the energy and oil-service sectors at Arctic Securities, SpareBank 1 Markets and Carnegie.

“Norway is a global hub for these sectors. The expertise, the issuers and the capital are all here; we invest where we have home-field advantage,” says Lars Christian Bjørge, Head of Credit Sales at Norselab. “Our fourth fund in under four years and this time with the Odfjell family as anchor investor at NOK 1 billion.”

“Norway is a global hub for these sectors. The expertise, the issuers and the capital are all here; we invest where we have home-field advantage.”

Lars Christian Bjørge, Head of Credit Sales at Norselab.

Structured as an alternative investment fund for professional investors, Norselab Shipping & Energy will invest across high-yield issuers in shipping, oil service and oil and gas. The fund will hold 20 to 30 positions and offer monthly liquidity. Its NOK 1 billion launch commitment comes entirely from the Odfjell family, whose wealth was built through businesses including Odfjell Drilling and Odfjell Technology, giving the anchor investor long-standing operating experience in the sectors targeted by the fund.

The new strategy is backed by a team with extensive experience navigating the Nordic credit market and its cycles. Ole Einar Stokstad, formerly Head of Credit Research at DNB Markets, joined Norselab in 2022 to help establish the firm’s credit platform alongside co-founder and Managing Director Tom Hestnes. Hestnes, meanwhile, joined Norselab in 2022 after seven years as a Senior Portfolio Manager at Alfred Berg, following earlier senior roles in corporate finance and fixed-income sales and trading at SpareBank 1 Markets, Arctic Securities, Swedbank First Securities and SEB. He has been involved in some 60 to 70 restructurings during his career. Møllerløkken now adds around 20 years of sector-focused equity and credit research experience.

The investment case rests on what Norselab sees as a structural shift in the economics of energy and logistics. “Our thesis is that geopolitics has permanently repriced energy and logistics security,” says Tom Hestnes. Hestnes describes the development as a paradigm shift for the sector, with geopolitical considerations reshaping capital allocation and the economics of energy and transportation. The three target sectors already represent a significant part of the Nordic high-yield market, accounting for around 35 percent of issuance by volume, according to DNB Carnegie. The market has issued €15.2 billion across 161 transactions year to date.

“Our thesis is that geopolitics has permanently repriced energy and logistics security.”

Tom Hestnes, co-founder and Managing Director of Norselab Credit Management.

That structural backdrop, however, comes against a market with tight credit spreads. As of August 7, spreads stood at around 288 basis points in shipping, 384 basis points in oil service and 360 basis points in oil and gas. “That reflects genuinely improved credit quality rather than a reach for yield,” according to Hestnes. The tighter spreads leave less room for broad sector exposure to drive returns, making security selection increasingly important. “It does mean returns from here come from selection rather than sector beta.”

The launch further expands a credit platform that includes Norselab Sustainable High Yield, launched in December 2022, and Norselab Financial Hybrid, which has delivered a strong 6.5 percent return since mid-October 2025. The flagship Sustainable High Yield fund, which is benchmark-agnostic and targets the most attractive parts of the B to B- credit spectrum, has generated an annualized return of 11.7 percent since inception. Norselab also previously operated a Nordic real-estate-focused high-yield opportunity fund, launched in November 2023, which was merged into the Sustainable High Yield fund this summer after delivering an annualized return of 15.5 percent.

The latest launch comes as Norselab has moved beyond its startup phase and established a broader presence in Nordic credit. The firm currently oversees close to €400 million in assets under management across its funds, while the new Shipping & Energy strategy adds a more specialized sector mandate to the platform.