Our history
Over more than forty years, ABGSC has leveraged its partnership model, strong culture of teamwork, and commitment to integrity, to build our firm into the leading independent Nordic investment bank it is today.
Jump down to section
Our beginnings
ABGSC’s history stretches back in Norway to 1984, in the form of Sundal Collier Holding (a corporate finance and equity broker partnership) and in Sweden to 1997, in the form of ABG Securities (a research provider with international sales operations). In 2001, the two firms merged, bringing together their complimentary offerings with the aim of creating something unique: an independent, partner-controlled, pan-Nordic investment bank. The guiding slogan was “Nordic companies – Global money”, with a strategy of offering deep insight into Nordic markets and a broad sector competence.
Establishing ABGSC
In 2001, the success of the newly formed ABGSC was not a foregone conclusion. The young firm emerged on the scene amidst the fallout of the dot-com crash. After years of uninterrupted growth, Nordic markets fell by 25 percent, corporate activity was dramatically reduced and IPOs had virtually stopped. Nevertheless, the decision to merge would prove to be a sound one. Recognising that the industry was changing, both firms wanted to expand their regional footprints and increase their capabilities. It was a choice to compete with the “big players” in the industry, including the non-Nordic, international firms that at that time dominated investment banking in the Nordics.
Early growth of ABGSC
Despite a challenging market environment at the beginning of the century, ABGSC quickly found its footing, focusing on integrating our core operations and building on our joint strengths. In March 2003, ABGSC advised Gjensidige NOR on the merger with DnB. As the largest Norwegian merger at the time, this was a landmark transaction, solidifying our strong market position within M&A and kicking off what would become a five-year bull market.
The following year, ABGSC took a major leap within the Nordic IPO market, serving as Joint Global Coordinator in the de-merger and subsequent listing of Yara from Norsk Hydro; this was a watershed moment in Norwegian corporate finance and became the gold standard going forward. In the following years, we built on this success, advising on numerous IPOs in what turned out to be a booming IPO market. Our firm grew steadily as we started building our presence within Swedish Corporate Finance and as we established our Danish operation. We were looking to achieve a truly pan-Nordic status and to diversify our Norwegian heritage and dependency.
Weathering the 2008 financial crisis
When the 2008 financial crisis hit, nobody in our business emerged unscathed. ABGSC weathered the storm in a very complicated situation, in which several major industry players were severely distressed or went bankrupt. In fact, we managed to avoid any material losses and operated profitably throughout a period of turmoil and low market activity. This was a tribute to our sound business model, the resourcefulness of our team and a culture focused on a lean, agile operation, disciplined cost awareness and a conservative risk approach.
Transition and structural changes
The following years were challenging for our industry as it took years for corporate activity to recover and as there was significant negative pressure on the brokerage services segment. Technological development, in combination with constant margin pressure, made us rethink and restructure our service offering.
We had an ambition of broadening our offering towards Nordic corporates while making the necessary adjustments to our research and brokerage operations. Where many faltered by too aggressively cutting down their secondary businesses, we chose to carefully adapt to the new realities and remained committed to maintaining a market-leading research product, and even strengthened our investor reach. Consequently, we established a new office in Germany and set up an Investment Banking team in Denmark. Capturing a greater portion of the large Swedish market has been an ongoing ambition and we invested continuously in patiently developing our Swedish franchise into the powerhouse it is today.
With our traditional strengths within equities and M&A, ABGSC started to actively move into the bonds segment in the post-2008 era. First, by achieving a leading global position in the niche convertible bonds segment, which was very active in the early 2010s, and later by building a leading high-yield DCM and fixed income machinery during the latter half of the decade.
As we have been looking to further diversify our offering and revenue base, in recent years we have expanded into the market of direct real estate investments through our investments in Vika Project Finance (now ABG Project Finance) and ABG Fastena. More recently we branched out further into alternative investments with the creation of ABG Alternatives in 2023 and entered the private banking segment with the creation of ABG Private Banking, also in 2023.
ABGSC today
ABGSC has come far from where it was in 2001. Our product offering and revenue base have become significantly more diverse and we are less dependent on a single market, sector, or product. ABGSC has evolved from being primarily a brokerage firm, into being a full-service pan-Nordic financial institution.
But while our business has evolved, our core ethos remains the same and we are determined to protect the entrepreneurial spirit that has taken us to where we are today. The same agile structure and business culture that saw us through the fall-out of the dot-com crash and allowed us to weather the storms of 2008-2009, today facilitates our strategy of growing our market share and broadening our reach and offering. As of 2026, ABGSC is set to expand further with the acquisition of FIH Partners, Denmark’s leading independent M&A and strategic financial advisory firm, strengthening our position in the Danish market, and fortifying our position as the leading independent Nordic investment bank.
As we continue to pursue growth and expand our market shares across geographies, we are mindful of the shared values that brought ABG and Sundal Collier together: teamwork, integrity and the partnership model. We believe these values will be crucial in equipping us to tackle the challenges and grasp the opportunities of the years to come.
Our history at a glance
