Kvika has completed the funding and foundation of a new private equity fund named FREYJA. The total commitments amount to ISK 6.2 billion and initially the fund will be ISK 3.5 billion.

FREYJA will invest in Icelandic companies and work closely with management and co-investors to make good companies even better. The fund places an emphasis on ensuring that the companies in which it invests apply corporate social responsibility to their day-to-day operations, establish an environmental policy and work according to good corporate governance. Most of the shareholders of FREYJA are the largest pension funds in the country, as well as other professional investors.

Kvika manages two other private equity funds, Auður I, which was founded in 2008, and Edda, which was founded in 2013.  The management of these funds has been successful and yielded ample returns to investors. Auður I invested in eight companies, including, among others, TAL, Yggdrasil and Ölgerðin, but now only has holdings in two companies, Íslenska Gámafélagið and the Já information service. Edda has holdings in Íslandshótels and Securitas after it sold half of its stake in Domino’s in Iceland to exclusive licence holders in Domino’s in the UK earlier this year. The sale yielded an annual return of over 50% to Edda's investors.

The asset management of Kvika is the backbone of the bank, but the bank operates on broad foundations and provides investors with comprehensive financial services on domestic and international markets. Total assets under the management at Kvika and its subsidiaries currently amount to ISK 280 billion.

Hannes Frímann Hrólfsson, Managing Director of Asset management at Kvika:

FREYJA is the third equity fund to be managed by Kvika. It is satisfying to see that all of the principal investors in the fund have also invested in our previous private equity funds and that is a sign of their confidence in the results we have achieved as the oldest managing entity of private equity funds in Iceland. Kvika's private equity funds have played an active role in the growth and development of many of the biggest and most established companies in Iceland in recent years and we will continue to endeavour to support the development of the Icelandic economy by investing in the companies that we have faith in, but it should be mentioned that the private equity funds that we operate place a strong emphasis on responsible investments.