Vegard Søraunet has decided to seek new challenges outside of ODIN and has resigned from the position as Fund Manager and Investment Director (CIO), effective 9. June 2020. Going forward, the Investment Director role will be filled by CEO Bjørn Kristiansen.
– I would like to take this opportunity to thank Vegard for his work for ODIN and for a long, positive and progressive collaboration spanning nearly 15 years. He has helped develop the ODIN model, our investment philosophy, and has clearly left his mark on an advancing company. He leaves behind a solid fund management organisation which has won several awards in 2020. As we wish Vegard every success with his future endeavours, we are safe in the knowledge that ODIN’s strong fund management team will continue to deliver great results for our customers,” says Bjørn Kristiansen, CEO of ODIN.
Vegard Søraunet joined ODIN in 2006 as an analyst and has been the fund manager for several of ODIN’s most popular funds. Since November 2017, he combined the role of Investment Director with being the fund manager of ODIN Sverige, ODIN Norden and ODIN Aksje.
Bjørn Kristiansen to fill CIO role
Vegard will remain available to ODIN until 1. September, but he will be handing over responsibilities to new fund managers immediately. For now, the role of CIO will be filled by ODIN’s CEO Bjørn Kristiansen, in line with the organisation before Vegard took on the role.
This is how ODIN Sverige and ODIN Norden will be managed going forward
The funds that were managed by Vegard will still be managed in line with ODIN’s investment philosophy, the ODIN model. Experienced fund managers will be assigned to the funds.
ODIN Sverige will be managed by Jonathan Schönbäck, who currently manages ODIN Small Cap. Jonathan is an experienced and merited fund manager with extensive experience in managing Swedish allcap funds. Jonathan joined ODIN in 2019 and, at the time, was ranked second of all Swedish fund managers. The fund he managed for 11 years was a Swedish allcap fund with a focus on quality companies.
ODIN Norden will be managed by Vigdis Almestad. Vigdis has a broad investment background from the Nordic region and internationally and has been working with the ODIN model for a large part of her career. Overall, she has more than 25 years’ experience as a fund manager and is currently the fund manager for ODIN Norge.
The fund manager changes will take effect from 9. June 2020.
In order to support the fund managers in their work, ODIN will continue its investments in internal analysis capabilities. ODIN will therefore complement the existing organisation by bringing in additional analysts working in line with the company’s own analysis model, the ODIN model.