Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Following the recent addition of long-time Dagens Industri reporter Richard Bråse to its investment team, Swedish fund boutique Protean Funds has announced the hiring of Axel Ekros from East Capital Group. Ekros has been assisting Staffan Östlin in running long/short equity fund Adrigo Small & Midcap L/S, in addition to serving as a high-yield-focused analyst for Espiria, another East Capital brand. He will officially join Protean Funds in January 2025.
“We are pleased to announce the hiring of young analyst Axel Ekros. A fellow hard-working stock nerd from Småland, with an adequate pain threshold for portfolio management from years in the Swedish national rowing team. Welcome to the team Axel,” the Protean Team announces on LinkedIn. “We are delighted he has decided to join us full time from January 2025,” writes the team in their latest letter to investors.
“We are pleased to announce the hiring of young analyst Axel Ekros. A fellow hard-working stock nerd from Småland…We are delighted he has decided to join us full time from January 2025.”
For the past two and a half years, Ekros has worked as an analyst at Adrigo Asset Management, supporting Östlin in managing Adrigo Small & Midcap L/S. He also spent one and a half years as a high-yield analyst for Espiria, focusing on analysis and day-to-day tasks for the Espiria Nordic Corporate Bond fund, a crossover fund investing in both high-yield (HY) and investment-grade (IG) securities. Ekros was a professional athlete who spent many years as a member of the Swedish national rowing team.
“Axel has been a member of the Swedish national rowing team for many years, in the difficult Quadruple Scull – a niche discipline that requires a high level of teamwork and synchronicity, not dissimilar to being part of a portfolio management team,” writes the team at Protean. “There’s no doubt he has an adequate pain threshold for withstanding market gyrations,” the team adds. “Axel also has complementary skills, adding more fixed income experience to the team, and we foresee he will over time take more responsibility in managing our liquidity.”
The hiring of Axel Ekros marks Protean’s second team addition in October following the departure of Ramil Koria, who returned to the sell side. “We take our fiduciary duty seriously. And by expanding the team with handpicked high-caliber people, we add to our capacity,” the Protean team emphasizes in the latest letter. “This does not mean fees go up, or that our maximum capacity limits for the funds change. We simply continue doing what we think is best for returns.”
“We take our fiduciary duty seriously. And by expanding the team with handpicked high-caliber people, we add to our capacity.”
After nearly 20 years of experience in equity markets with three major Nordic banks, Pontus Dackmo launched the Protean Select hedge fund alongside Didner & Gerge portfolio manager Carl Gustafsson back in 2022. Protean Select is designed as a flexible and performance-optimized equity hedge fund. Building on its successful debut in May 2022, the firm launched a long-only small- and mid-cap equity fund, Protean Small Cap, in mid-2023 and is now considering a third fund, leveraging Richard Bråse’s expertise.
