The overriding strategy of Novo Holdings is 1. to be a stable and supportive owner of the Novo Group, 2. to generate attractive long-term returns that allow us to both deliver an income to the Novo Nordisk Foundation and to grow the Investment Portfolio, 3. to allocate a significant portion of our funds to direct life science investing, where we can leverage our heritage and deep-rooted insights, 4. to invest, both through specialist portfolio managers and directly, across the asset classes including equities, fixed income and alternatives through Capital Investments, and 5. to invest for positive societal impact.
In relation to Life Science Investments, we endeavour to:
- invest in established life science companies with a strong long-term potential, as executed by Principal Investments;
- invest in private and public growth companies requiring expansion capital, as executed by Growth Investments;
- invest in private and public venture companies, as executed by Venture Investments; and
- create and build life science companies in Scandinavia, as executed by Seed Investments;
We have a long-term and flexible investment style. We can invest in private and public companies and take majority and minority positions. Furthermore, we aspire to bring more than capital to our investments by leveraging our deep-rooted life science expertise and network.
In relation to Capital Investments, we endeavour to:
- build long-term relationships with specialist external equity and fixed income fund managers;
- make direct public equity and bond investments in high quality companies with a long-term sustainable growth profile and capital allocation discipline;
- make credit investments in companies that appeal to our risk/return requirements;
- make both direct and externally managed Real Asset investments in infrastructure and real estate assets; and
- invest in specialist venture capital and private equity funds.
Novo Holdings realised record Income and Investment Returns of DKK 37 billion in 2021, up from DKK 29 billion in 2020. This result is well balanced and based on a strong performance from both the Novo Group companies and our Investment Portfolio, with the latter generating a very satisfactory return of 15% for the year. Novo Holdings closed the year with a record DKK 697 billion in total assets, up from DKK 457 billion in 2020, with the Investment Portfolio alone increasing to a record DKK 182 billion, up from DKK 150 billion in 2020.
