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Brief history

The Swedish company Havsfrun Investment AB (publ) was founded in 1988 as a publicly quoted real estate company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange with about 500 shareholders. The company took its name from a house in central Stockholm called Kv Havsfrun 26, (‘Havsfrun’ meaning ‘mermaid’) which was its first main holding.

In 1992 the company became distressed in the general financial collapse of Swedish real estate prices. It was reconstructed by its main shareholders at that time - a large, publicly quoted insurance company - but was severely reduced in size. At the end of 1994 the majority of the shares were sold to a new and previously unrelated group of investors gathered in an investment company named Stockbox Holdings AB, with John Tengberg and Claes Werkell as its most prominent members. Stockbox Holdings AB later became, and still is, a subsidiary of Havsfrun Investment AB, today under the name Havsfrun Capital AB.

Over the next decade Havsfrun gradually achieved increasing success. Total equity that was about 30 million Swedish krona (SEK) in 1994 had by 31st of December 2016 grown to SEK 240 million. The main operational changes were the sale of its real estate holdings and the acquisition of Stockbox Holdings AB in 1998 as a result of an increasing focus on directly or indirectly owned securities investments.

In 1996 Stockbox Holdings AB purchased a major part of the shares in the publicly quoted Finnish investment company Norvestia plc from Nordic banking giant Nordea. In 1998 Norvestia, in turn, purchased the majority of the shares in the publicly quoted Finnish investment company Neomarkka plc from the large Finnish forestry group Metsälitto. That same year Havsfrun acquired Stockbox Holdings as its wholly owned subsidiary.

The group’s main business activity was taking place in the Finnish subsidiaries, and by the end of 2002 the total consolidated capital of the entire group was close to SEK 1.5 billion (about £130 million or US$250 million). The total number of shareholders of the three listed companies exceeded 15,000. Both Norvestia plc (http://www.norvestia.fi/) and Neomarkka plc (http://www.neomarkka.fi/) have been listed investment companies in Finland for many years. In a strategic restructure Havsfrun sold its Norvestia shares in September 2003, thereby realizing a considerable profit. The sale enabled Havsfrun to establish a similar investment strategy at its office in Stockholm, Sweden.

Today

Havsfrun Investment AB currently has about 2 400 shareholders with shareholder equity amounting to roughly 220 million Swedish Crowns (SEK). The company has been listed on the Swedish stock exchange since 1994 and still has the same principal owners. The long-term investment goal of Havsfrun Investment is to achieve similar returns, or outperform, global stock markets, but with lower volatility. Havsfrun manages a globally diversified multi strategy portfolio, consisting of carefully selected hedge funds with a variation of investment strategies in different markets. Investments exposed to foreign currency risks are often executed in parallel with currency futures, ensuring that fluctuations in exchange rates do not significantly dilute the intrinsic value of Havsfrun Investment's portfolios.

Registrations and partners

Public listed
B-share is listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, Small Cap. Company symbol HAV B. http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/

Swedish Companies Registration Office
Bolagsverket, Stuvarvägen 21, 851 81 Sundsvall, Sweden. http://www.bolagsverket.se/

Authorized public accountant
Johan Pharmanson. BDO Mälardalen AB, Karlavägen 100, Box 24193, 104 51 Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.bdo.se/

Banks and Brokers
Danske Bank (Stockholm) and Svenska Handelsbanken (Stockholm).

Law firm
Mannheimer Swartling Advokatbyrå AB, Norrlandsgatan 21, Box 1711, 111 87 Stockholm, Sweden. http://www.mannheimerswartling.se/