Primary Investment: Ceder Capital
Sourcing
Following a sound and comprehensive analysis of the Scandinavian private equity market, NORD Holding made contact with Ceder Capital in 2013. Back then, the Ceder Capital team consisted of two experienced senior private equity managers, who funded their transactions on a deal-by-deal basis. Ceder’s existing portfolio not only performed well, but also showed considerable potential for future value creation.
Structuring
NORD Holding’s fund investments team worked with the Ceder team to develop an institutional fund structure, including a plan to build an investment team. This fund structure included (i) a roll-in of one pre-fund deal at first close, (ii) a major expansion of the team and (iii) a significant investment from the team to reflect their commitment to the fund and to align interests.
Adding value
NORD Holding invested as the anchor investor in the first close of the fund in August 2014. The Ceder team made a significant commitment of their own to fully align interests. Furthermore, NORD Holding negotiated special rights to mitigate various first-time team and first-time fund risks.
Following up
Ceder Fund I sold its first portfolio company just 18 months after the first close reaching a DPI of nearly 1.0x and showing solid performance across the rest of the portfolio. In the time since NORD Holding committed to the fund, Ceder has also continued investing in line with its defined investment strategy and successfully built a full investment team. This development became the basis for NORD Holding to commit to the second Ceder Fund in 2018.
We have been extremely happy working with NORD Holding and have formed a special relationship with them as our founding investor. We really appreciate their valuable input and feedback when discussing investment ideas and specific companies. This is a clear advantage that NORD Holding has considering their focus on both direct and fund investments.”
Founding Partner
