Nordic
In April 2009, Nordic Asset Management (NAM) took a major decision to end its status as Denmark’s oldest independent hedge fund manager (established in 2001) by selling the firm to PFA Pension, the country’s second-largest pension fund and its largest commercial pension provider, managing €30 billion ($44 billion) in assets. NAM’s three partners – Peter Ott, Kim Mikkelsen and Morten Mathiesen – sold their 100% stake partly as a response to the ongoing crisis in the financial markets.
However, as Peter Ott, chief executive of Copenhagen-based NAM, also points out: “PFA wanted to increase its exposure to the asset management business and was therefore interested in buying a company which could offer asset management services to other institutional investors. The hedge fund aspect of our operations was a secondary consideration as PFA has its own in-house alternative investment expertise. Nevertheless, it has reduced its allocation to hedge funds during...