Our Investment Strategy

There are several preconditions that must be met before we can take active ownership of a company. First and foremost, companies must be robust and sustainable. We are not saviours, we are partners who give companies the financial muscle they need to optimize their potential in a global marketplace. Secondly, companies must reflect a culture and values familiar to us; this is perhaps the most critical point.

We place great importance on human interaction and collaboration and expect to find this human perspective and business philosophy within potential partners. It just has to feel right. Gut feelings and personal chemistry in a business partnership are factors that are difficult to define, but must nonetheless be part of the equation, as they define so much of human communication.

Investing in people

Our mission is to enable people to grow and thrive together to create lasting value for our customers, our people, our shareholders and the society wherever we work and live.

People are central to everything we do at Koppernæs. All value is created through human cooperation and interaction. We believe in cultivating unique business cultures that focus on the working environment and promote personal growth – this is the foundation for innovation and personal growth. People are the single most long-term sustainable and profitable investment a company can make. This has been part of the Koppernæs ethos since 1884, originally because our very survival depended upon it. The key to success when making your living from and on the sea, is cooperation with the person next to you. This focus has been transferred to all our business activities, not primarily because we are interested in building human values, but because this yields greater, long-term financial results.

Proactive ownership

We believe in long-term, proactive and transparent business partnerships. We shall always create strong relationships with our business partners. Mutual respect and understanding are factors for success in healthy and profitable business operations. Our proactive ownership in other businesses is based on trust. We join companies we believe to be genuinely healthy, with high levels of expertise and a focus on values we recognize and appreciate. It is therefore natural that these companies retain a high level of autonomy, all the way from the company management to their employees. The expression “freedom with responsibility” clearly embodies the type of relationship we have with the companies within our active ownership. We abstain from management roles unless requested otherwise, or deem it absolutely necessary.

Target groups

Ocean and infrastructure industries are our main focus for the period ahead. It is therefore natural that we focus on companies within these sectors when considering proactive ownership.