SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT FROM INVESTMENT MANAGER SKAGEN FUNDS An unlikely Nordic success story The old maxim that common sense is not that common, does not hold true in Stavanger. Here on the often stormy West Coast of Norway, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. It is a unique, pragmatic place, where the traditional industries of shipping, fishing and oil engender the kind of long-term thinking which naturally helps legislate against cyclical markets.
Illustration: Per Dybvig Founding father and inspiration behind SKAGEN’s investment philosophy, Kristoffer Stensrud Stavanger is also an entrepreneurial place, however. So it should be no surprise that it was here in 1993 that four business friends and long-term finance-industry veterans - Tor Dagfinn Veen, Kristoffer Stensrud, Åge Westbø and Geir Tjetland - decided to take on the big Norwegian banks and create their own fund management firm. All the founders remain active players in SKAGEN, and are as attached to their West Coast home and Nordic sensibilities as they ever were. Then, as now, it was the investing genius and philosophical approach of Stensrud, which propelled the company forward. Swedish business magazine Dagens Industri, describes Stensrud as the Equity Hippie (“Aktiehippien”). With his ponytail, sockless feet, and interest in Feng Shui he cuts an unlikely figure as an international investor. But it is his unusual approach to life which his colleagues believe allows him to recognise the qualities in companies which others do not or cannot. He is regarded in the company as the “Syvende Far” – a Norwegian fairytale character, loosely translated as the founding father. And while there were months at the beginning when the founders did not take a salary, Stensrud’s concentration on undervalued, unpopular and under- researched stocks meant clients were still getting hefty returns. But that was never quite enough for Stensrud. As a child of a family of hoteliers, it had always irked him that the finance industry did not have the same attachment to client servicing and open communication, as the hospitality market did. He sought therefore to also put this at the centre of the company’s ambitious vision: to become the world’s best fund management company measured in terms of risk adjusted returns, service, and client communication. Now, almost 20 years later, with assets under management of €12 billion, 35% of the Norwegian equity fund market and a growing market share in Sweden, Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands, SKAGEN can hardly be described as a small player. But with its measured international growth, it remains a global minnow. Ironically, however, the philosophical attachment to open communication and transparency, conceived out in this financial backwater, actually puts the company in the vanguard of financial good practice. With the current hostility to baffling financial products, SKAGEN believes that its straightforward, plain vanilla equity funds are a refreshing change. As Westbø says, “This is all we do. And we only offer funds which we would be happy to invest in ourselves.” The decision to publish the entire holdings of each of SKAGEN’s funds each month as well as the business case behind any new acquisitions, means clients can always be confident about where there money is going and how it is performing. And SKAGEN’s focus on maintaining its own distribution network with competent client advisors means that the company’s 160 000 or so direct clients can be sure of receiving close and professional service and follow-up. In response to client demands rather than any plan for world domination, SKAGEN has gently pushed out into new markets. Less than 50% of its client base is now in Norway (see graph). But the owners are clear that as the company expands internationally it will retain that same common sense Norwegian philosophy that has served it so well in the past. MEASURED INTERNATIONAL GROWTH Netherlands 8% Denmark 6% Sweden 28% UK 7% Others 4% More than half of SKAGEN’s assets now come from outside of Norway Norway 47%
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