The hunt for strong returns in the present low interest rate environment has in recent years channelled increasing amounts of money into unlisted equities – and these millions are come from institutional as well as private investors.

This is what both Danske Bank Asset Management and Nordea Asset Management report – two of the largest Nordic players on the asset management market.

Head of Nordea Asset Management Private Equity, Christian Estrup, who defines PE as investments in unlisted companies, says to AMWatch:

"Over the course of the last two-three years, we have seen vigorous growth in the private equity market. It is mostly driven by the many investors, both institutional and wealthy private investors, who have placed more money in private equity as a result of the current "low yield environment", in which it has become increasingly difficult to find attractive returns in traditional asset classes such as bonds and equities."

This opinion is shared by the CIO of Equities and Alternatives at Danica Pension and Danske Bank Wealth Management, Jesper Langmack.

"Overall, unutilized pledges are what has caused capital funds to have more assets at their disposal for investments compared to before the financial crisis. Capital funds have a lot of firepower to invest at the moment," he says.

Read about Nordea's take on private equity investments in this issue of the AMWatch Newsletter, and about Danske Bank in next week's issue.

Nordea: "More capital muscle" for private equity managers 

English Edit: Marie Honoré