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Josie Shillito

9Questions is our Q&A series featuring key decision-makers in the corporate credit markets — get in touch if you know who we should be talking to!

Arcmont has been active in the Nordics for a number of years, and its appointment of Carnegie’s Patric Carlsson in Stockholm this year only advances that game. Carlsson talks to 9fin’s Josie Shillito about the abundance of businesses beloved of private credit: software, tech, business services and healthcare.

1. Can you tell us a bit about Arcmont in the Nordics? 

As a pioneer in European private debt, Arcmont has been investing in the Nordics since inception. We have made investments in 12 separate portfolio companies since Arcmont was established, with four of these being in 2023. The initial success was built on our strong sponsor relationships across Europe and our ability to support sponsors with their Nordic investments. The local investment team benefits our activity in the region.

We’re staying true to Arcmont’s investment philosophy across Europe, which means concentrating on market-leading businesses that exhibit strong cash flows and possess strong management teams operating in non-cyclical and stable sectors, such as software, technology, business services and healthcare. We look to combine geographic and sectoral knowledge of the types of borrowers that we lend to.

There are multiple drivers for these kinds of businesses in the Nordics. The region has a strong entrepreneurial tradition, due in part to the generally supportive business climate and a transparent regulatory framework. The macro environment is also largely stable and there’s a well-developed, mature private equity environment. The latter is particularly beneficial for us as we primarily lend to sponsor-backed companies.

4. How do direct lending funds interact with Nordic banks?

Compared to other regions, Nordic banks have always been more focused on credit risk rather than market risk. Nordic banks have traditionally supported sponsors active in the region with sizeable hold amounts. As a consequence, local sponsors have been slower to adopt private credit, but we have seen a shift in recent years which appears to be accelerating. We see Nordic banks as partners rather than competitors, as they will often take super senior facilities in our transactions.

5. Where’s your sweet spot for deal size? 

Our target ticket size is €50-500m, but we have the capacity to do larger tickets across our strategies. We take a partnership approach with our counterparties and maintain a flexible approach. For example, we often lend to businesses at a smaller scale with potential for add-on financings, particularly if the private equity sponsor is pursuing a buy-and-build strategy.

We have done club deals here, but the need for clubbing up with other direct lenders is not as pronounced as in other regions where transactions are generally larger.

7. P2Ps are experiencing a surge. Is this true of the Nordics?

Yes, this is an area of increasing opportunity. Public-to-private processes tend to have a fairly low hit ratio at the outset, but we can be a strong partner by writing sizeable checks in very limited time frames.

8. Do you see competition from the Nordic bond market?

The Nordic bond market is a bit different to other bond markets in Europe in that it supports smaller companies with debt quantums as small as €20m and on an unrated basis. The value proposition is different from ours, and while the bond market offers a high level of flexibility, we can offer more bespoke financing in a private environment, with certainty of funds and secured financing for bolt-on acquisitions.

9. Make us jealous about Stockholm’s gorgeous archipelago!

The archipelago outside Stockholm is truly unique, and a place I would recommend everyone to visit, if you have not already. There are a lot of fantastic places, some good restaurants out on the islands, and tonnes of things to do such as kite surfing. There is a tranquillity there that I have not experienced anywhere else.

9Questions — Patric Carlsson, Arcmont — Get your kicks in the Nordics

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