New managers at the helm of SKAGEN Kon-Tiki and SKAGEN Focus

SKAGEN Kon-Tiki

Cathrine and Fredrik will take over the running of SKAGEN Kon-Tiki from Knut Harald Nilsson, who has decided to leave SKAGEN to manage his personal portfolio.

Veteran portfolio manager of SKAGEN Kon-Tiki, Cathrine Gether, joined the emerging markets fund in 2009 from Millennium Capital Partners in London. She has 18 years of experience from the financial industry.

Cathrine will work closely alongside Fredrik Bjelland who joined SKAGEN in 2017 from Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), where he was a Portfolio Manager and Head of China, Special Mandates. He has long and broad experience from managing equities in emerging and developed markets.

“We are delighted to have such a strong partnership in place to manage SKAGEN Kon-Tiki. Continuity and consistency in the fund will be secured by Cathrine who joined the team in 2009. Fredrik also has long experience from the industry and has already introduced a number of new exciting investment ideas,” commented Investment Director Alexandra Morris. 

SKAGEN Focus 

Jonas Edholm will take over as lead portfolio manager of SKAGEN Focus from Filip Weintraub who is stepping down for personal reasons.  

Jonas was instrumental in initiating and launching SKAGEN Focus with Filip in 2015. He has extensive industry experience and will continue to work closely with portfolio manager David Harris. There will be no change to how the fund is managed going forward and the portfolio managers will continue to apply a strict team approach. Jonas and David have worked closely together for a decade. 

“SKAGEN Focus remains in very capable hands with Jonas and David who have been with the fund since start and will continue to manage the fund in the best interests of its unit holders. Jonas has more than 15 years’ experience from active value-based stock-picking as well as a diverse background from risk management and asset allocation. He also has prior experience as a lead manager,” commented Alexandra Morris. 

Equipping the funds for the future

“Our duty to our clients is to ensure the best talent to manage their investments. As such, we are pleased to have two highly motivated teams in place with a complementary skillset representing both new talent and continuity. All four portfolio managers are partners of the company and are natural successors from SKAGEN’s seasoned investment team,” commented Alexandra Morris.  

SKAGEN has initiated the process to recruit new analyst resources to support SKAGEN Kon-Tiki and SKAGEN Focus. In the meantime, the Portfolio Department has built a strong roster of resources that interact across the teams and the portfolio managers of both funds will continue to collaborate with and seek support from these resources. 

“We would like to thank both Knut Harald and Filip for their valuable contribution to SKAGEN over many years and wish them the best for the future,” concluded Alexandra Morris.