Mémoire (M.P.M.O.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1992. / Résumé disponible sur Internet. CaQCU Bibliogr.: f. [262]-270. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

This study examines the relationship between discounts on Swedish closed-end investment companies and abnormal return. By sorting Swedish investment companies by the size of their discounts, we create monthly portfolios over a period of 15 years and construct a hedge-portfolio which generate an annualised abnormal return of 9.99%. However, in contrast to prior research, we find that the hedge-portfolio’s abnormal return is penalised by the short portfolio, which exhibits positive abnormal return. This suggests that extreme negative sentiments appear to be more pervasive than positive sentiments on the Swedish market. Hence, we argue that a strategy of only investing in investment companies with the top third of discounts is superior in a Swedish context. This strategy yields an annualised abnormal return of 13.21%.

Investment companies are actors that play important private- and socioeconomic roles in the business world. The purpose of this thesis is to examine investment strategies of Swedish investment companies, in terms of risk and the extent to which academic theory is employed in the process. To accomplish this, Swedish publicly listed investment companies have been sorted by size and portfolio structure. Empirical research consisting of data collection and interviews indicates that companies rarely apply theories in their entirety. Instead they are opting to 'cherry-pick' individual concepts. As active owners, companies tend to view each holding as an individual investment. By contributing to corporate governance with knowledge and experience, investment companies are able to facilitate long-term strategic growth. While both the financial industry and society as a whole have evolved, Swedish investment companies still typically rely on dated, ‘proven’ methods. / Investmentbolag är aktörer i näringslivet som fyller funktion ur såväl samhälls- som privatekonomisk synvinkel. Uppsatsens syfte är att kartlägga svenska investmentbolags investeringsstrategi med avseende på risk och huruvida man tillämpar akademisk teori inom området. För att möjliggöra detta har svenska börsnoterade investmentbolag sorterats efter storlek och portföljstruktur. Empirisk undersökning i form av inhämtad fakta och utförda intervjuer har visat att man inte använder akademisk teori med avseende på risk, dock visas att element av dessa tillämpas. Strategin som aktiv ägare handlar istället om att betrakta varje innehav som en enskild investering och med kunskap och erfarenhet i innehavens respektive ledning bidra till en långsiktig strategisk utveckling. Trots att finansbranschen och samhället utvecklats så håller man sig i svenska investmentbolag fortfarande till beprövade arbetsmetoder.

Debt financing can be seen as both an opportunity to increase profits as well as a financial risk and is thus an important issue for company owners to consider. This study examines the portfolio companies of the investment firms Investor and Indsutrivärden, and how their debt policies have developed from 2004 to 2022. In addition, factors that have been taken into consideration in their debt decisions are studied as well. The thesis uses a mixed methods approach by creating time series of debt levels and by conducting a content analysis of the companies’ reports and presentations. The findings show that Investor’s and Industrivärden’s portfolio companies take similar approaches to their debt policies. However, changes in the debt policies of Industrivärden’s portfolio companies indicate an impact of leadership changes within Industrivärden. Generally, the companies try to minimise the risks of their debt, considering factors such as liquidity and refinancing, financial flexibility, and credit ratings. Macroeconomic risks are also considered, which is exemplified in the management of debt maturities. Over time, an increased focus on green financing and the use of the debt-to-EBITDA ratio is identified. Consequently, the thesis contributes to the literature on corporate debt and ownership.

Abstract Background: Sweden has a long history of family-owned investment companies, and they are a big part of today’s financial composition. Mergers & Acquisitions is a well-established term which refers to the process of two or more companies calling for a restruction of the corporate order. However, a large number of M&A’s end up failing and one reason behind this could be the complexity of juggling between hard and soft values in the acquisition process.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to look at and explore how family-owned investment companies manage to juggle between the soft and hard values in their pre-acquisition processes. Further the study aims to provide insights into how family values and their governance of these companies impact their overall M&A process. Method: This study employed a qualitative research design. The empirical data were gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with nine different individuals employed at six different companies within the M&A industry. Furthermore, an abductive approach was used, and a thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the gathered data.  Conclusion: Family-owned investment companies have shown that they can successfully manage to juggle the hard and soft values of the M&A process. Mainly through their great experience of building companies as entrepreneurs and therefore applying soft values to the equation, this together with the use of external management weighing up with the hard values to find balance between the two. The shaping of the strategy enabling them to juggle between the two is mainly built around the idea of long-term thinking and including entrepreneurs in their companies through co-owning, enabling them to use the skills and network at hand.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Types of investment funds from the point of view of positive law The purpose of my thesis is to present a comprehensive view on differences and possibilities of particular types of investment funds from the point of view of positive law. The main aim of the thesis is to contrast these differences and possibilities with other types. The first chapter deals with basic issues of investment funds. The aim of this chapter is to look at investment fund as an institution especially from a fundamental economic perspective and come through into its economic nature. Furthermore the chapter contain description of main benefits of mutual funds as compared with the individual investment, draws attention to the problem of conflicts of interest and contains the basic classification of investment funds. The aim of the second chapter is to describe in basic features development of legal framework of investment funds in Czech Republic in the light of Act on Investment Companies and Investment Funds from early beginnings to current. With regard to the scope of respective law, focuses the chapter mainly on applicability, structure, legal forms and on some chosen questions. Content of the third chapter is brief treatise about legal term of investment fund. Next chapters focus on organizational forms and other division...

For as long as managed mutual funds have been in existence there has been a desire to accurately assess their relative performance against each other, and also their respective performance in relation to an appropriate stock market index. There has been a specific interest in whether the expensive, professionally managed mutual funds can justify their high cost with respect to low cost, simple index trackers by producing superior, post-cost performance, and this proposition is implicitly tested within this thesis. The aim of this thesis is to undertake an empirical assessment of the managerial performance of mutual funds utilising a three-stage DEA-SFA-DEA methodology which combines linear mathematical programming (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Specifically, this thesis focuses on evaluating the managerial performance of UK domiciled open-ended investment companies (OEICs) and unit trusts (UTs) over a three year period from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2010. Various DEA models are utilised including CCR, BCC and SBM DEA models with various orientations, and also versions of these DEA models which make use of the SORM procedure. These are used to carry out an initial evaluation of the managerial performance of the OEICs/UTs, before two of these DEA models are combined with SFA regression analysis in a three-stage DEA-SFA-DEA methodology to purge the influence of environmental factors and statistical noise, thus leading to a more robust evaluation of the true managerial performance of the OEICs/UTs under assessment. The results of this thesis extend support to the premise of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) that financial markets are information efficient , and thus it is not possible, given the information available when the investment is made, to consistently obtain returns in excess of the average market return on a risk-adjusted basis, and this thesis does so through the use of a novel approach.

Closed-end funds’ (CEF) discount and discount fluctuations have been puzzling researchers for decades. Up to date, there are no multidimensional or cross-sectional variables that have been proved to influence CEFs simultaneously. Fact is that, earlier research and theories on the subject are contradictious and several suggestions on the origin of the CEF’s discount and its fluctuations have been proposed. To mention a few, investor sentiments, taxation issues, dividend policies, agency costs and agency problems are considered to influence these discounts. The purpose of this report is to examine the relationship between micro- and macroeconomic variables fluctuations, and how these can explain the discount fluctuation of the Swedish CEFs. This report focuses upon the CEFs traded at NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, which have been selected through a comprehensive multistage selection process. 10 CEFs were selected. Monthly data for calculating micro- and macroeconomic variables was collected for the period March 2003 – February 2013, which resulted in approximately 1 200 observations. OLS regression analysis, Fixed- and Random Effect Models and Hausman tests were conducted. The findings conclude that some of this report’s chosen micro- and macro variables influence on the Swedish CEFs’ discount fluctuation, although these findings are conditioned. The CEFs’ individual characteristics or traits result in a significant impact on the fluctuation of CEFs’ discount. Hence, only by controlling these characteristics, multidimensional or cross-sectional micro- and macroeconomic variables can be proved to affect the CEFs’ discount fluctuation.

Denna uppsats utgörs av en jämförande studie vars mål var att utröna huruvida åtta stycken utvalda investmentbolag på Stockholmsbörsen hade varit ett konkurrenskraftigt alternativ som sparform eller inte med avseende på risk och avkastning. Detta jämfört med SIX Return Index och den riskfria räntan under en tidsperiod på tio år, 2001-01-01 till 2010-12-31. Syftet med undersökningen var att den i slutändan skulle mynna ut i generella slutsatser kring investmentbolag som sparform utifrån de data som hämtats in från de berörda investmentbolagens hemsidor. Författarna kunde efter avslutad undersökning dra slutsatsen att investmentbolagen historiskt sett hade klarat sig mycket bra och kunnat uppvisa resultat som varken marknaden eller den riskfria räntan var i närheten av. Även om vissa av investmentbolagen hade presterat sämre än jämförelsemåtten så var dock den samlade bilden att de som grupp hade varit ett mycket fördelaktigt investeringsalternativ. Detta med en genomsnittlig totalavkastning som överträffade index med drygt åtta procent. / This essay examines how well eight chosen Swedish investment companies in the Stockholm stock market hold up as an investment alternative in relation to the risk and return of the investment. They will be compared with the SIX Return Index and the yield to maturity within a time period of ten years, 01.01.2001 – 31.12.2010. The purpose of this examination is to come to a general conclusion about investment companies as an investment alternative regarding their risk-adjusted return with the help of quantitative information gathered mainly from their company’s homepage. After the comparison the authors were able to come to the conclusion that investment companies historically had managed to show way better results than both the markets index and the yield to maturity. Despite a few investment companies achieving weaker results than the market index, investment companies as a group would have been a very beneficial investment alternative with an average rate of return that beats the market index by 8 percent.