Business Model
CapMan manages and advises funds that invest in unlisted companies, real estate and infrastructure in the Nordic countries. We firmly believe that active ownership enables financial success and advancing sustainability in a comprehensive manner.
Our investors
CapMan raises capital for our funds under management primarily from institutional investors based in the Nordic countries, in Europe or globally. Such investors include pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, local family offices and other institutional investors that seek exposure to the Nordic region through investments in the private asset class.
Our funds
Private equity funds typically have a closed-end structure, which means that they are open for commitments from investors for a short pre-defined period. The investment period of a closed-end fund is typically 5 years and the fund life cycle 10 years. In addition to closed end funds, we also manage an increasing number of open-ended funds and mandates.
Our assets under management
These funds, including commitments and the portfolio of investments, form CapMan’s assets under management. Assets under management increase following new commitments to funds and decrease following exits. Our strategic objective is to double our assets under management to €10 billion.
Our investments
The capital is invested according to the respective fund’s strategy in Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish real estate, infrastructure assets and companies as well as natural capital. CapMan’s value creation plan is executed typically over a 4-6 year holding period, after which the assets are sold to an industrial buyer or another investor, or they are floated on a public exchange.
Income streams
CapMan’s business comprise private equity fund management and advisory services, as well as investment business. In the Management Company Business, the funds managed by CapMan make investments in Nordic companies and in real estate and infrastructure assets in the Nordic countries. The Management Company Business also includes wealth services. The Service Business includes procurement services to companies. Through its investment business, CapMan invests in private assets, mainly in its own funds alongside its customers, but also selectively in funds managed by external fund managers.
The following income streams contribute to CapMan’s results:
1) Fee income 2) Carried interest income 3) Income from own investments
Fee income
Fee income comprises 1) management fees from funds and services and 2) other service fees.
The fee income reported in the Management Company segment includes management fees related to CapMan’s position as a fund management company, fees from other services closely related to fund management and fees from wealth advisory services.
As a fund manager, CapMan receives management fees during a fund’s entire period of operations. This fee is typically based on the fund’s original size during its investment period, which is usually five years. Thereafter the fee is typically based on the acquisition cost of the fund’s remaining portfolio. Total management fee income increases with new fundraising, and therefore the success of fundraising represents an important indicator for any analysis of CapMan. The level of management fee income declines as exits are made. The fee base also decreases when the investment periods of individual funds end, and the basis for calculating management fees switches from a fund’s original size to the acquisition cost of its remaining portfolio.
Annual management fees are usually 0.5-2.0% of a fund’s total commitments, depending whether the fund is a real estate fund, a mezzanine fund, or an equity fund. In the case of real estate funds, management fees are also paid on committed debt capital. The average management fee percentage paid by CapMan-managed funds is approx. 1%.
Fees from wealth advisory services are also reported under the Management Company segment.
Other service fees reported under the Service segment include fees through CapMan Procurement Services (CaPS) as well as other services related to fund management.
The latest fee guidance is presented in the most recent interim report.
Carried interest income
Carried interest refers to the distribution of the profits of a successful private equity fund among fund investors and the fund manager responsible for the fund’s investment activities. In CapMan’s earnings model, carried interest means a share of a fund’s cash flow received by the fund manager after the fund has transferred to carry. The fund transfers to carry after a preferential annual return, typically 8% p.a., has been achieved for the fund.
The recipients of carried interest in the private equity industry are typically the investment professionals responsible for a fund’s investment activities. In CapMan’s case, carried interest is split between CapMan Plc and funds’ investment teams.
CapMan applies a principle where funds transfer to carry and carried interest income are based on realised cash flows, not on a calculated and as yet unrealised return. As the level of carried interest income varies, depending on the timing of exits and the stage at which funds are in their life cycle, predicting future levels of carried interest is difficult.
In the case of funds that are already in carry, their carried income interest potential can be evaluated by reviewing their portfolio and their individual investments. In practice, an analysis of the latter can help estimate how much of a portfolio’s remaining fair value is associated with each portfolio company and what its impact on carried interest will be. When analysing individual investments, it is important to remember that when a fund is in carry CapMan will receive carried interest income from all of its cash flows, including those generated by investments sold below their original acquisition cost. This is because fund investors have already been repaid the capital they originally invested, together with their preferential returns.
Income from own investments
CapMan also makes direct investments into its funds under management alongside its customers.
CapMan also invests actively in the private assets asset class from its own balance sheet, mainly in its own funds. CapMan typically commits 1-5% of the original fund size depending on the size and demand for the fund in question, in addition to CapMan’s own investment capacity. The objective of CapMan’s own investments is to balance fluctuations in income as investment returns are reflected in the results faster compared to carried interest income.
CapMan typically funds its investments with 50% debt in order to leverage the return on equity. Investments contribute to results both as realised returns and fair value changes.
Realised returns are e.g. exit proceeds and interest. Fair values changes depend on the development of underlying assets and their peer group as well as general market conditions. Investment returns can also be negative.
