2008 SEB bought fund manager Key Asset Management. After last autumn's turbulence a conservative launch is now taking place of three funds. "They complement our range of alternative investments," says Kjell Norling, head of global fund distribution at SEB.
In November 2007, SEB agreed to acquire London-based Key Asset Management. The company works with fund-in-fund investments and specifically manage funds that invest in hedge funds. Two thirds of clients are institutions and the remaining third are wealthy individuals.
The flagship product is called Key Hedge Fund, a fund that had shown a positive development for 17 years when SEB agreed to buy Key Asset Management. However, during last year’s market turbulence, many hedge funds encountered significant problems. While Key Asset Management did relatively well according to Kjell Norling, several of the company’s funds showed a negative development last year.
”These funds are meant to give a more stabile return than the stock market. During 2008, even the absolute return hedge fund managers had problems recording positive returns, but we now see that the results in 2009 mean that many have come back from the losses recorded in 2008. We see a continued return to more normal markets and that hedge funds are going to be those that can easiest find the opportunities available in the market,” says Norling.
He says that the funds should be seen as a broadening and a complement to the bank’s alternative investments. They are mostly targeted towards private banking and investment advisory clients in Sweden, but also towards institutional clients.
The three funds that are now being launched more broadly within SEB in Sweden are the flagship products SEB Key Hedge, SEB Key Europe Equity and SEB Key Recovery. All three funds are regulated and approved by the Swedish financial supervisory authority.
NIKLAS MUNTER