May was a solid month for the fund. The entire market was characterised by great relief after Liberation Day was postponed, and a willingness to negotiate trade agreements in a more constructive way was signalled. As a result, high-yield markets in the Nordics, Europe and the US traded back to pre-Liberation Day levels, with credit spreads close to historic lows.
The primary markets reopened and were met with strong risk appetite and considerable liquidity. The fund participated in a new issue - Barclays Bank - which was attractively priced. In addition, the fund increased its positions in DNB, SEB, BNP Paribas, Intrum, Heimstaden and Aroundtown, among others. At the same time, we further reduced our exposure to oil services by selling our entire holding in Shelf Drilling and realising gains in SGL and Grand City.
Kraft Nordic Bonds is overweight in property, banking, finance and insurance. Real estate remains the best performing sector, closely followed by the banking sector, both operationally and financially, in today's European market. This is also reflected in the fund's strong performance so far in 2025.
The fund maintains a negative stance on shipping, oil services and cyclical sectors in general, and has no investments exposed to tariff-related risk.
The fund exhibits strong capital discipline and has an overall focus on quality to ensure liquidity, price risk correctly and safeguard unitholders' capital.
At the end of the month, the fund had a current interest rate of 7.49 %* and an effective interest rate of 11.57 %.*
*FExcess costs related to management. May change from day to day and is therefore no guarantee of the return in the period for which it is calculated.
Sincerely yours,
Øivind Thorstensen & Simen Aarsland Øgreid
