President and CEO Björn Jansson comments on the report
A simmering optimism was evident in the financial markets during the first half of the year. Carnegies advice is highly sought-after and business activity has reached a new peak. We achieved performance in the first half of 2021 on par with performance for the full year of 2020, which was a record year.
Carnegie has been investing for several years in remaining the leading Nordic investment bank, a position that has been strengthened in recent years. Carnegie acted as the adviser in more ECM transactions than any other bank in the European market in 2020, an achievement followed by a shared first place as we close the books on the half year 2021. Looking at IPOs alone, Carnegie participated in 34 IPOs during the period, more than any other financial institution in Europe.
Our success is based on the combination of our top-ranked research team, our placement capacity among institutional investors all over the world, our network of private investors and the strong market position of the Investment Banking team, which together create a unique ecosystem.
Carnegie participated in 34 IPOs during the period, more than any other financial institution in Europe.
We increased the workforce in the first half, primarily in the business organisation, in order to manage the high business flow and further develop our client offering. At mid-year, our staff had grown by about 50 compared to one year ago. We have also made further investments in our IT infrastructure to streamline our processes and enhance our client offering.
We are maintaining our efforts to encourage sustainable business by presenting the Carnegie Sustainability Award, this year to Ørsted, Camurus and Pepix. We also partnered once again with Svenska Dagbladet to present the SvD Business Achievement Award (Affärsbragd), which was awarded this year to Klarna and its founder, Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “Restart the Future” is a new initiative we are involved in with several other large Swedish companies that have joined together to support start-ups and help accelerate their journeys.
Our focus at Carnegie is always on our clients and their trust in us, along with our knowledgeable and dedicated employee
Björn Jansson, vd Carnegie
Our focus at Carnegie is always on our clients and their trust in us, along with our knowledgeable and dedicated employees and a favourable market climate, contributed to a strong profit trend in the first half of the year. Current conditions bode well for good performance in the second half as well. Regardless of what happens in the financial markets in the future, Carnegie will continue investing to further develop and enhance our offering and ensure high and enduring client trust.
Björn Jansson
President and CEO, Carnegi