Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Coeli-backed hedge fund manager Mikael Petersson has founded a new company, Absolute Unlisted AB, to invest in unlisted companies in the pre-IPO phase. Absolute Unlisted, founded by Petersson in collaboration with Swedish asset manager Coeli, originally planned to raise SEK 500 million in capital, but ended up closing an oversubscribed capital raising of SEK 597 million due to great interest from Coeli investors and Petersson’s own investor network.
Absolute Unlisted will invest in approximately ten companies in the so-called pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) phase, private companies with a planned listing on the stock exchange within approximately 24 months. Individual investors are often restricted from purchasing shares of popular private companies before their IPOs. Absolute Unlisted aims to give its investors the opportunity to invest in these unique opportunities at a potentially faster stage of growth and more attractive valuations.
Mikael Petersson, who has 29 years of experience investing in both listed and unlisted companies from investment houses such as London-based Lansdowne Partners, has made seven investments in unlisted companies in the past three years. His best investment returned 485 percent in the three years ending December of last year, and the one with the lowest return delivered 55 percent in two and a half years.
“The unlisted space is where we have regularly and in all cases managed to achieve a very high return. It is no secret that the best investments often start in very small and closed networks with well-known investors.”
“We have been investing in unlisted companies for several years as part of our investment strategy,” says Mikael Petersson, who manages long/short equity fund Coeli Absolute European Equities and long-only equity fund Coeli European Opportunities out of Malmö. “The unlisted space is where we have regularly and in all cases managed to achieve a very high return. It is no secret that the best investments often start in very small and closed networks with well-known investors,” he emphasizes. “After all the years I have invested, I have built up a very strong network. We invest together with these key people and often get the chance to get into the very first rounds of capital raising at low and attractive valuations.”
The recently-launched Absolute Unlisted will benefit from Petersson’s investor network that provides access to otherwise inaccessible investment opportunities. Christian Angermayer, who has previously invested with Peter Thiel, Louis Bacon, Cathie Wood, Mike Novogratz, among others, is one of the anchor investors and part of Petersson’s network. Angermayer contributes greatly to the Petersson’s and his Malmö-based team’s unique flow of investments.
“Investing together with some of the world’s leading investors in unique stages, before the companies are available to the public, creates good conditions for generating great value.”
“Investing together with some of the world’s leading investors in unique stages, before the companies are available to the public, creates good conditions for generating great value,” comments Erik Bäckström, Partner of Coeli and Vice President of Coeli Wealth Management. “Mikael has a strong history of investing in the pre-IPO phase and we are happy to invest in Absolute Unlisted together with Mikael’s network, our customers and investor networks.”
