Fearnley Asset Management has appointed Maria Granlund and Scott Aspestrand Stousland as portfolio managers for its high-yield-focused Fearnley Credit Fund. Granlund joins as Head of Credit and Portfolio Manager after 13 years at Alfred Berg, while Stousland brings a decade of experience from Nordea. The appointments add further depth to Fearnley Asset Management’s investment capabilities, which also include the global energy and shipping-focused long/short strategy Fearnley Energy Alpha Fund.
“Fearnley Asset Management is pleased to announce that Maria Granlund and Scott Aspestrand Stousland have joined the company as Portfolio Managers for Fearnley Credit Fund,” Fearnley Asset Management said in a LinkedIn announcement. Granlund joins Fearnley Asset Management after 13 years at Alfred Berg, including 12 years as a portfolio manager focused on crossover bonds spanning investment grade and high yield. Stousland brings more than 10 years of experience, most of his career at Nordea, where he held several roles across credit, including credit sales and senior credit analyst covering sectors such as shipping and seafood.
“Fearnley Asset Management is pleased to announce that Maria Granlund and Scott Aspestrand Stousland have joined the company as Portfolio Managers for Fearnley Credit Fund.”
“Starting in October, I will take on the role of Portfolio Manager, joining Maria Granlund in managing the Fearnley Credit Fund, a Nordic High Yield fund,” Stousland announced his new role on LinkedIn. “I am excited for the opportunity to team up with Maria and to be part of growing Fearnley Asset Management’s ambitious credit platform.” He highlighted the broader Astrup Fearnley franchise as an important foundation for the strategy. “Backed by the Astrup Fearnley Group’s 150+ years of history and presence across 18 offices globally, we have a solid foundation for the fund’s long-term perspective and growth ambition, while remaining firmly anchored in the Nordics,” Stousland said.
Granlund added that the pair are already working on developing the strategy further. “Scott and I are now in the process of developing Fearnley Credit Fund further,” she said. The fund’s portfolio management team takes a flexible and opportunistic approach to investing in Nordic high-yield bonds.
Fearnley Credit Fund is one of two funds currently managed under the Fearnley Asset Management umbrella. The other is Fearnley Energy Alpha Fund, which pursues value-driven long/short investments across the global energy and shipping sectors. The energy strategy was established following the decision by Harald James Otterhaug to close OAM Absolute Return Fund, the energy-focused long/short equity strategy he had co-managed for nearly two decades. His former co-portfolio managers Lars Tjeldflaat and Ole-Jacob Storvik chose to continue pursuing a similar investment approach at Fearnley. Together with Simon Johannessen, formerly a portfolio manager at KLP Alfa Global Energy, and other members of the investment team, they now manage Fearnley Energy Alpha Fund.
