Norrsken Foundation and private equity firm Nordic Capital Investment Advisory AB (“Nordic Capital”) have established a long term strategic partnership. Through the partnership, Nordic Capital will advise Norrsken’s member companies on how to scale their businesses. The partnership is part of Nordic Capital’s ambition to build long term sustainable companies that contribute positively to society.

The aim of the partnership between Norrsken Foundation and Nordic Capital is to support the social entrepreneurs in the Norrsken ecosystem to scale their business, thereby increasing their positive impact on the communities is which they are active. The partnership reinforces Nordic Capital’s commitment to sustainable behaviour.

Norrsken has the ambition to tackle the largest challenges facing humanity with the vision to help create a world optimised for people and the planet. Nordic Capital will work closely with the Norrsken Investment Team, providing advice on investment and operational excellence processes. Nordic Capital will also help Norrsken’s member companies to organise their board work and give advice on how to raise money, find investors and support the building of prospering businesses.

The Norrsken ecosystem consists of companies with sustainable business models focused on solving some of the environmental and social problems the world faces and accelerating positive change. Norrsken engages in early stage businesses by helping them to scale. Companies represented in the ecosystem include, for example: Karma, a company that reduces food waste; Hygglo, which enables users to rent the things they need and rent out the things they own; and Doctrin which provides digital solutions for doctors’ consultations which increase patient involvement and facilitate doctor-patient communication.

“Nordic Capital strives to contribute to society by building market-leading sustainable companies. We are proud to announce a partnership with Norrsken Foundation, an important incubator for small, impact-driven companies. This is a way for us to engage in early stage sustainable companies,” says Kristoffer Melinder, Managing Partner at Nordic Capital.

“Nordic Capital has a world-class record of building and scaling sustainable businesses. It is fantastic that they will now support Norrsken and impact entrepreneurs in their growth journeys. With this partnership, we can positively impact many people and even increase the chances of enabling an impact unicorn – a company positively affecting one billion people”, says Niklas Adalberth, the founder of Norrsken.

Media Contacts:

Nordic Capital
Elin Ljung, Director of Communication and Sustainability,
Tel: +46 8 440 50 50
e-mail: elin.ljung@nordiccapital.com

Norrsken
Funda Sezgi, Chief House Officer,
Tel: +46 72 962 39 29
e-mail:  funda@norrskenfoundation.org

About the Nordic Capital Funds
Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor in the Nordic region with a resolute commitment to creating stronger, sustainable businesses through operational improvement and transformative growth. Nordic Capital focuses on selected regions and sectors where it has deep experience and a proven track record. Core sectors are Healthcare, Technology & Payments, Financial Services, Industrial Goods & Services and Consumer & Retail, and key regions are the Nordics, Northern Europe, and globally for Healthcare. Since inception in 1989, Nordic Capital has invested EUR 12 billion in 100 investments. The Nordic Capital Funds are based in Jersey and are advised by advisory entities, which are based in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the UK. For further information about Nordic Capital, please visit www.nordiccapital.com.

About Norrsken
Norrsken Foundation is a Swedish non-profit organization founded in 2016 with the purpose of solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The Foundation runs the award winning co-working hub Norrsken House, an impact VC fund of €30M that invests in best entrepreneurs solving the biggest challenges in the world and two in-house initiatives, Klarity & 29k. The Foundation was established by Niklas Adalberth, the co-founder of the financial service company Klarna.

ew Mid-Year Report Provides Update on Global Macro Trends

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR today announced the release of its 2018 mid-year outlook piece by Henry McVey, Head of Global Macro and Asset Allocation (GMAA). In New Playbook Required, McVey outlines his perspective on the current investing environment and updates his asset allocation targets.

“From a macro and asset allocation perspective, we feel confident that we are on the cusp of a secular shift where a new playbook for investing may be required,” Henry McVey says. “We now see a significant ‘baton hand-off’ in many of the markets that we cover from monetary policy towards fiscal stimulus — perhaps the most important shift in the last decade. This change in policy leads us to favor investments with greater linkages to the real economy — versus purely financial assets — than in the past.”

McVey continues, “We also continue to see nationalist agendas, particularly as they relate to cross-border trade, supplanting more global ones. Against this backdrop, we now favor more upfront yield in the portfolio, we advocate shortening duration, and we place a premium on low cost liabilities. We also continue to view Asia as the world’s incremental growth engine.”

In his latest report, Henry McVey and his team note the following macroeconomic investment trends that are driving his team’s thinking:

1. Asset allocators and macro players must now invest through the lens of fiscal policy accommodation, not monetary policy accommodation, which has dominated the landscape since the Global Financial Crisis.
2. Nationalist agendas are now aggressively being emphasized over global ones.
3. The structural bid for yielding assets remains outsized, but we are further turning our focus towards hard assets that benefit more from nominal GDP.
4. Buy complexity, sell simplicity. Similar to the late 1990s, we think that the market is giving investors a wonderful opportunity to buy complexity at a discount.
5. We remain bullish on our ‘Deconglomerization’ thesis, and we continue to see a burst of corporate carve-outs across the globe.
6. We are increasingly struck by how fast overall consumer behavior patterns are changing and continue to be bullish on our ‘Experiences Over Things’ thesis.
7. While we continue to favor Emerging Markets over Developed Markets, we acknowledge that our mid-cycle pause thesis is playing out more intensely than we originally envisioned. As such, we continue to advocate more selectivity in the second phase of this secular bull market in Emerging Markets.

Key highlights of Mr. McVey’s asset allocation framework include a substantial underweight to global government bonds, particularly at the long-end of the curve; an increasing overweight to Real Assets with Yield and Growth; the decision to remain equal-weight Public Equities by underweighting Turkey and adding to the U.S.; the addition of Grains (Corn) to the portfolio; and a decrease to Cash.

Links to access this report as well as an archive of Henry McVey’s previous publications follow:

• To read the latest Insights: click here.
• To download a PDF version: click here.
• To download the KKR Insights app for iOS click here, and for Android click here.
• For an archive of previous publications please visit www.KKRinsights.com.

About Henry McVey

Henry H. McVey joined KKR in 2011 and is Head of the Global Macro and Asset Allocation team. Mr. McVey also serves as Chief Investment Officer for the Firm’s Balance Sheet and oversees Firmwide Market Risk at KKR. As part of these roles, he sits on the Firm’s Investment Management & Distribution Committee and the Risk & Operations Committee. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. McVey was a managing director, lead portfolio manager and head of global macro and asset allocation at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). Earlier in his career he was a portfolio manager at Fortress Investment Group and chief U.S. investment strategist for Morgan Stanley. While at Morgan Stanley, Mr. McVey was also a member of the asset allocation committee and was the top-ranked asset management and brokerage analyst by Institutional Investor for four consecutive years before becoming the firm’s strategist in January 2004. He earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. McVey is a member of the TEAK Fellowship Board of Trustees after previously serving as co-chair of the board for five years. Henry is also a member of the Pritzker Foundation Investment Committee, a board member of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO), a member of the national advisory board for the Jefferson Scholarship at the University of Virginia, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Corporate Leader Program.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic manager partnerships that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

The views expressed in the report and summarized herein are the personal views of Henry McVey of KKR and do not necessarily reflect the views of KKR or the strategies and products that KKR offers or invests. This release contains projections or other forward-looking statements, which are based on beliefs, assumptions and expectations that may change as a result of many possible events or factors. If a change occurs, actual results may vary materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date such statements are made, and neither KKR nor Mr. McVey assumes any duty to update such statements except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180628005417/en/

KKR
Kristi Huller or Cara Major
212-750-8300
media@kkr.com

Source: KKR

News Provided by Acquire Media

The information was publicly communicated on 18 May 2018, 13:00 CET.

New York, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. 02 May 2018 – HQ Capital (“HQC”), a leading independent manager of alternative investments, announced the final closing of its global secondary fund, Auda Secondary Fund IV (“ASF IV”), and its Asia-focused secondary fund, Auda Asia Secondary Fund (“AASF”), with combined third-party capital commitments of US$674 million.

Both funds were oversubscribed, receiving significant interest from existing and select new investors from around the globe. ASF IV closed on US$503 million of capital, exceeding its original target of US$450 million, and AASF closed at its hard cap of US$250 million, surpassing its US$200 million target (inclusive of US$79 million in capital allocated by ASF IV and by Auda Asia IV, HQC’s Asia-focused platform fund).

Like its predecessor funds, ASF IV will seek to construct a globally diversified portfolio of private equity assets through a combination of traditional and non-traditional secondary market transactions. Traditional deals will typically involve the purchase of limited partner interests in buyout, growth equity, venture capital and other private funds. Non-traditional deals will generally include sponsorship of private equity fund recapitalizations; purchases of portfolios of direct company interests; and purchases of securities in a single company. AASF will employ the same market approach, investment strategy, structured investment process, and key portfolio construction guidelines as ASF IV, but will focus exclusively on Asia-based secondary transactions. Both funds will target small and mid-sized transactions, typically ranging from US$10-20 million in value.

Chris Lawrence, Managing Director at HQC, said: “The strong demand we have seen from investors demonstrates a continued high level of interest in secondaries. We believe our focus on the generally less crowded small and mid-sized transaction segment, will provide opportunities for negotiated purchases, better pricing and enhanced risk-adjusted returns for ASF IV. As the secondary market continues to grow and evolve, we look forward to applying our 29 years of experience and local market expertise in the U.S., Europe and Asia toward identifying and executing on attractive and innovative investment solutions.”

Georg Wunderlin, CEO of HQC, added: “The successful closing of ASF IV and AASF marks another milestone in our specialized strategy, manifesting our position as a leading, independent manager of alternative investments. We are proud to have earned investors’ trust and are fully committed to using our experience and global presence to find attractive niche investment opportunities.”

ASF IV and AASF are the fourth and fifth funds raised by HQC dedicated to making private equity secondary investments. HQC will draw on its global resources in managing ASF IV and AASF, with sourcing and execution of transactions led by investment professionals operating out of offices in New York, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. To date, the funds have already closed on a combined 25 transactions representing approximately US$230 million in committed capital.

HQ Capital’s limited partners include insurance companies, pension funds, financial institutions and family offices as well as high net worth individuals, endowments and foundations.

Fundraising for ASF IV and AASF is now closed. Accordingly, the foregoing text should in no way be interpreted as any form of offer or solicitation to subscribe to or make any commitments for or in respect of any securities or other interests or to engage in any other transaction.

Seeking new business opportunities is a natural part of EQT’s DNA. New initiatives typically tap into an asset class, sector or region where the EQT platform can make a difference. EQT has not yet explored the opportunities within the public setting – until now.

The core of EQT’s business model is to build strong and sustainable companies that are future-proofed for the long-run. Portfolio companies have an average increase in sales by 10%, EBITDA by 11% and number of employees by 10% – each year. EQT is also an active stakeholder within the equity capital markets, more specifically in Northern Europe, and has made 16 IPOs since inception.

As a first step to dig deeper into the opportunities that lie within publicly listed mid-market companies, Investment Advisor EQT Partners is teaming up with Zeres Capital, creating a Public Value team with both strong buyout and public market advisory experience. Fredrik Åtting, Partner at EQT Partners, will head the initiative together with Joakim Rubin, founder of Zeres Capital, who subsequently will become Partner and Investment Advisor at EQT Partners. Fredrik Åtting comments:

“Over the years, we have come across many listed mid-cap companies where we believe an active ownership approach could have unlocked their full potential. We believe this represents an opportunity for an active ownership and value creation model. Having access to the EQT network, the firm’s widespread sector expertise in addition to all the other benefits the global EQT platform offers would enable further value creation opportunities.”

Zeres Capital is an independent Stockholm-based investment firm, founded in 2013, with a history of creating value by supporting the building of robust, healthy businesses within the public market. Joakim Rubin highlights some of the aspects behind why he, together with a team of six public markets specialists, have decided to join EQT Partners:

“EQT Partners and Zeres Capital share the same philosophy when it comes to active and responsible ownership, and the importance of engaged management teams, boards and shareholders that are aligned on strategy – we believe our skills will be a great combination.”

Fredrik Åtting concludes: “The combination of a private equity mindset and a significant public market experience, will enable EQT to explore and leverage the EQT way of developing companies in a new and attractive marketplace.”