Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Mangold AB has acquired a 25 percent-stake in QQM Fund Management AB, a Stockholm-based asset manager running systematic market-neutral fund QQM Equity Hedge. The total purchase price equals around SEK 3.7 million, where part of the consideration is paid in cash and the remaining consideration consists of equity in the buyer.
The cash payment amounts to approximately SEK 2.3 million. The non-cash consideration consists of newly-issued Mangold shares, corresponding to around SEK 1.4 million. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Finanspektionen and is set to make Mangold the second-largest owner of QQM Fund Management.
Mangold has previously made similar acquisitions of the same size in two other Nordic alternative asset managers, Skandinaviska Kreditfonden (SKF) and Resscapital. SKF manages several direct lending funds in the Nordics, whereas Resscapital oversees Ress Life Investments – an alternative investment fund investing in the secondary market for U.S. life insurance policies.
“We see synergies that can be created in the same way as with SKF and Resscapital, and we want to apply the same model with QQM,” said Per-Anders Tammerlöv, the CEO of Mangold, in an announcement. “QQM complements our other acquisitions very well,” added Tammerlöv, emphasizing that the asset manager’s systematic market-neutral fund focuses on a different asset class than the other acquisitions. QQM Equity Hedge employs a systematic strategy to build a well-diversified market-neutral portfolio that aims to capture the effects of fundamental and price momentum in European equity markets. The fund gained 8.1 percent in the first half of 2019 after achieving its best monthly performance on record in May.
“We are convinced that a long-term partnership with Mangold, an independent Swedish securities broker with a successful private banking business aimed at company owners, individuals and foundations, will strengthen our distribution capabilities and generate growth, Ola Björkmo, the CEO of QQM, tells HedgeNordic. “With Mangold as a partner, QQM’s systematic and uncorrelated investment strategy will be accessible to a broader group of investors,” adds Björkmo, emphasizing that the fund will be managed by the same team employing the same strategy since July of 2010.
