OW bunker bankruptcy back to haunt Carnegie

Denmark's largest pension fund has indicated it has reduced or stopped placing trades with Carnegie, the Swedish investment bank that advised on the flotation of OW Bunker, the now-defunct Danish company.

ATP had €22.3m invested in the shipping company, which fell into bankruptcy just seven months after floating in March 2014.

The statutory pension scheme has launched an investigation into whether it is possible to recover losses as a result of the collapse, an investigation that particularly focuses on the role Carnegie played.

Carnegie was one of three banks that advised on the initial public offering of OW Bunker, along with Nordea and Morgan Stanley. The Swedish bank has come under intense pressure in Denmark over its role.

According to local media reports a number of large Danish investors have stopped using the bank for stock trading as a result.

When asked if ATP had also stopped routing stock transactions via Carnegie, Henrik Gade Jepsen, chief investment officer of the fund, told FTfm: "It would be wrong to announce an official boycott, but we weigh up all factors when we decide which banks we use for trading. I hope that answers your question. I hope that answers your question."

ATP, along with eight other large investors, have appointed two law firms to lead the investigation. It will focus on alleged errors and flaws in the prospectus prepared for OW Bunker's IPO. The results are expected to arrive later this month.

OW Bunker, which was originally valued at $1bn, was hit by scandal in November 2014 when it revealed it was facing a bankruptcy declaration, causing shares to fall by more than 50 per cent before being suspended.

Aside from ATP, the other investors conducting the investigation are PFA, AP Pension, DIP, Industriens Pension, JOP, Maj Invest, PensionDanmark and SEB. Accura and Bruun & Hjejle are the appointed law firms.

Jesper Langmack, managing director at PFA Asset Management, told FTfm at the time the investigation was launched: "As you can imagine, this case is unprecedented - I cannot recall such an investigation before, but as large players in the Danish market we have an obligation to find out what happened and what the possibility of legal actions are."

Additional reporting by Caroline Liinanki, editor of Nordic Fund Selection Journal

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