SWEDEN - Harcourt Investment Consulting, the Swiss hedge funds business that is ultimately majority owned by ABP and PGGM through NIB Capital, has launched a Swedish hedge fund index.

Harcourt has teamed up with data firm SIX and News Agency Direkt on a new series called SIX Harcourt HFXS-Index.

They said the new offering provides “a comprehensive insight into the fast-growing Swedish hedge fund market”. Swedish hedge funds run almost 80% of the total assets invested in Nordic hedge funds, a statement said.

The index covers the performance of all Swedish single managers since December 2000.

“During June SIX Harcourt HFXS-Index appreciated by an estimated 2.1% (equally weighted) and 2.4% (asset weighted), respectively,” the firms said.

The index was launched to “meet the growing demand for information with a fully representative index of hedge funds that is free from the weaknesses of other hedge fund indices”.

“The desire to make fair comparisons between hedge funds and other asset classes is strong,” said Pär Ståhl, head of business development at News Agency Direkt.

“Being the largest index provider in the Nordic region, we are happy to be the first to serve these needs.”

“The Swedish hedge fund market is well established with close to 80% of the Nordic assets under management and with skilled managers,” added Erik Eidolf, Harcourt’s Nordic managing partner.

Harcourt has $2.85bn under management and has pension fund clients such as Novartis, Raiffeisen and the City of Zurich.

Earlier this week, NIB Capital said it was in sale talks with US investment bank J.C. Flowers.

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