Nordea Asset Management has appointed Stina Rathsach Andersen as its new Head of Private Markets as of April 13 this year.

She replaces Kasper Elmgreen who has been interim Head of Private Markets since March last year when Lea Vaisalo left Nordea AM to become CIO at Danish pension fund Velliv. Elmgreen remains Head of Fixed Income & Equities.

Rathsach Andersen joins from Nordea Group Treasury where she currently serves as Head of Illiquid Exposures. In this role, she has been responsible for the Nordea Group’s alternative investment portfolio, including private equity and private credit investments.

“Her comprehensive private markets skill set spans fund investments, co-investments, and secondaries, providing her with extensive insight across the private markets investment landscape,” Nordea writes in a client letter.

The appointee, who was worked for Nordea since 2015, will be based in Copenhagen and will report to Kasper Elmgreen, who – in a written comment to AMWatch – notes that Private Markets are becoming an “increasingly important part” of Nordea AM’s strategy.

“We currently manage around EUR 4bn in client assets in Private Markets and, while still relatively small within our overall platform, we see clear growth potential,” he says.

Elmgreen adds that there is increasing demand, particularly among retail and wealth clients, for the “long-term return opportunities and diversification benefits the asset class can offer.”

Further appointment

Nordea AM will also be strengthening its Private Markets team with the appointment of an investment analyst in August.

According to the client letter, the two additions build on the recruitment of Stina Vällfors who – as previously reported by AMWatch – joined the team as senior portfolio manager at the beginning of this month.

The Private Markets team is based in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen, and with the new appointments, it will consist of 19 investment professionals.

This appears to be lower than the 21 reported by Nordea AM earlier this year, but the asset manager explains that some product specialists have been moved from the Private Markets team to Asset Management & Wealth where they will continue to work with Private Markets and alternative products – without being members of the PM team.