Nordic Capital seeks local hires for new US office

Nordic Capital Advisory‘s decision to open a New York office is a “natural progression” for the European private equity stalwart, which started investing in the US 10 years ago, according to Thomas Vetander, a partner in the firm’s healthcare team.

Vetander is relocating from Stockholm to the New York office, and the overall effort is led by Dr Raj Shah, partner and co-head of healthcare. The office is set to open this fall.

“From the very beginning, even for businesses located on this side of the pond, the US had been a very important market,” Vetander told Private Equity International.

Healthcare accounts for almost 40 percent of Nordic’s €14 billion of committed capital. The firm also invests in technology and payments, financial services, industrial goods and services and consumer companies.

Priorities for the US team include negotiating an office lease (they are temporarily located on Madison Avenue), recruiting two to four local investment professionals this year and building a pipeline of investments over a two- to five-year horizon, according to Vetander.

Nordic Capital has made three healthcare investments in the US to date, spending around €1.4 billion of the €5.4 billion the firm has invested into healthcare transactions overall. It invested in life sciences software provider ArisGlobal and Orchid Orthopedic Solutions, which designs and manufactures orthopedic implants, from its latest Fund IX, which closed on €4.3 billion last year. It also invested in ERT, a clinical trials data and technology company, from its €3.5 billion Fund VIII, which closed in 2013.

“We will continue to do what we are doing, only more efficiently and better,” Vetander said of the new office.

Nordic Capital has already made nine investments out of Fund IX over the last 18 months.

“We have been very fortunate in finding businesses that we are very excited about, so there is no pressure to do anything short-term or quick,” Vetander said.

Nordic Capital’s strategy is to spend time identifying companies it wants to own, irrespective of whether they will come up for sale. That gives the firm an edge so it can prevail when a deal happens, Vetander said.

“If we haven’t done work and spent a lot of time on a company and sector well in advance, it is very unlikely we will engage in the process if the company comes up for sale.”