Evli’s alternative investments team will gain more expertise during the autumn when Ville Toivakainen (MSc (Econ), CFA) joins the portfolio managers.
Toivakainen has almost 20 years of experience in alternative investments from, among others, OP Financial Group and RAM Partners. Prior to joining Evli, Toivakainen worked at Aktia Asset Management and was responsible for alternative investments, focusing on private debt investments. At Evli, Toivakainen’s focus will be the launch of a new private debt fund.
“Private debt is debt financing for companies. Debt instruments are illiquid and, unlike, for example, listed shares or bonds, do not have a broad ownership base nor an efficient secondary market. In recent years, private debt has developed into its own asset class, which offers long-term investors a higher return expectation than traditional fixed-income investments and also additional diversification compared to other illiquid asset classes”, Ville Toivakainen says.
According to Tero Tuominen, Managing Director of Evli Fund Management Company Ltd, Toivakainen brings more and complementary expertise to the alternative investments team. “Private debt is a key asset class and therefore, a natural addition to Evli’s product offering. The new asset class complements our alternative investment products offering, and with this, we are able to provide our clients with the opportunity to create an optimally diversified investment portfolio”, says Tuominen.
The development and sale of alternative investment products are a key focus area in Evli’s strategy. Currently, Evli’s alternative investment product offering covers real estate, unlisted equities, infrastructure and forestry, which are managed through eight funds. Tuominen estimates that the private debt fund will be launched early next year.
Evli’s expertise in alternative investment products dates back to 2005, when the company became the first in Finland to start real estate investment in the form of a fund. Today, Evli’s alternative investments portfolio management team consists of 20 investment professionals, and the funds’ total assets under management have risen to around EUR1 billion.
