The purpose of this essay is to evaluate stock index bonds return to risk ratio in order to investigate to which degree an investor in a stock index bond take part of the underlying index return and what the investor must pay for the security of not losing his funds. In order to carry out this evaluation an average return per year and the Sharpe ratio will be calculated and a mean- standard deviation analysis will be made. All investigated stock index bonds are based on a Swedish underlying asset.The results show that the stock index bonds haven?t generated a higher risk adjusted return than its underlying asset. The stock index bonds took part of 57 % of the underlying assets return, and the loss of 10 percentage points per year for the stock index bonds compared to its underlying asset can be seen as the cost for the guarantee a stock index bond gives..

The long-term external financing of a corporation is satisfied through the bond market where issues of index-linked bonds, which are discussed in this thesis, is one alternative. (Finnerty&Emery 2001) An index- linked bond is a debt instrument where the investor is guaranteed the principal and premium amount in real terms. As the bonds cash flows are indexed to the inflation this implies that the issuer of an index-linked bond assumes an inflation risk. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and examine corporate motives for choosing index-linked bonds as way of financing their business. Realization: Primary data was collected through interviews with corporate issuers of non-swapped index-linked bonds.

The main purpose of the essay was to evaluate whether investments in index-linked bonds were suitable investments for smaller investors on the international finance market. To determine whether the index-linked bonds are good investments, the variables yield, cost and risk were used to measure the index-linked bonds against investments in stocks and funds. The reason for the interest in this subject is that investments in index-linked bonds have grown furiously the last few years. With the growth of the investments the criticism of index-linked bonds has also grown stronger. The critics? main point is the cost of the product, and they imply that investors can create their own index-linked bond and thereby avoid the bank fees.This study used a quantitative approach, because all the data of yield, cost and risk consist of numbers.

Previous research has discussed how voluntary disclosure relates to the cost of equity capital. Theories of estimation risk support a negative association between disclosure and cost of equity capital, as empirically documented by Botosan (1997) among others. In this Bachelor thesis we investigate whether such a relationship exists on the Swedish capital market. Using the CAPM to estimate the cost of equity capital and a disclosure index based on Aktiespararen?s annual evaluation of corporate disclosure, we test a model where disclosure explains cost of equity capital.

The recent turbulence in the financial markets has contributed to the banks becoming more restrictive to lend to real estate financing. Deleveraging in Europe's banking sector has also contributed to banks reducing their leverage and increasing capital adequacy to meet the new requirements. Loan-to-value ratios in real estate loans have fallen while banks' interest margins have increased, which has made property investors to look for alternative sources of funding in the capital markets. The two most interesting forms of financing for real estate right now is bonds and preferred shares as they fit property companies that generate stable and predictable cash flows. A bond is an interest-bearing debenture certifying that the purchaser has lent money to the company that issued the bond.

The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of why convertible bonds are a relatively uncommon financing method in Sweden. The aim is to find the explanatory factors for this situation. The analysis is based on interviews conducted from three perspectives; the investor?s, the adviser?s and the issuer?s. The main finding is that the Swedish financial market has characteristics that inhibit the development of a convertible bond market in Sweden, leading to the fact that most convertible bonds are issued under special circumstances.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the difference in value generation and its drivers between leveraged buyouts and listed companies. The primary objective is to observe if differences exist. A secondary objective is to understand the differences and attempt to provide an explanation based on earlier research on Private Equity. A selection of large Swedish LBO-transactions, carried out between 1998 and 2012, are analyzed and their value generation drivers subject to comparison with a weighted index of companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. A clear difference in value creation is observed, both in size and composition.

 Problem: For what type of investors are index funds versus exchange-traded index funds best suited?Objective: The purpose of the paper is to determine how an index fund or an exchange-traded index fund (ETF) suits different types of investors with different requirements in terms of time frame, investment size and purpose of investment. The comparison is based on fees and trade practicality. This is going to describe the advantages and disadvantages with the two different financial instruments.Method: The study is a comparative study using two methods; one of which is a case study, the other is a qualitative interview. The case study focuses on fees and is made on an exchange traded fund (XACT OMXS30) and a simple equity index fund (Erik Pensér equity enhanced index).

Introduction: Interplay between all the different subsystems of the financial markets is currently considered as an important internal force in the market. In a financially liberalized economy exchange rate stability is a basis for a wellbeing stock market. If these interactions between all the different subsystems of the financial markets are not detected, this means that there is information inefficiency in the markets.Problem: Can we find any correlation between changes in currency, interest rate and bonds with the stock market index? If so, how do these changes affect the Stockholm Stock Exchange?Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine if there is any linkage between the interest rate, currency and bonds with the stock market. The researchers wanted to find out how these variables affect the stock market index OMX S30 which consists of the 30 largest companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.Method: This research has been based on a quantitative approach.

Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

Uppsatsen behandlar de investeringskriterier och värderingsmetoder som svenska Private Equity-företag använder inför företagsförvärv. Vi har gjort en kvalitativ analys av fem svenska Private Equity-aktörer. Våra slutsater är att de Private Equity-bolag vi studerat har ett fåtal övergripande investeringskriterier men att de är relativt flexibla gällande resterande. Företagen använder sig främst av multipelvärdering i värderingsprocessen. Sammanfattningsvis kan vi konstatera att Private Equity-företagen fokuserar mindre på vad företaget är värt och lägger allt fokus på hur mycket företaget kan avyttras för..

In this paper we investigate 67 Swedish buyouts in the manufacturing and retailing sector between the years 2004-2012. The purpose is to measure changes in a set of financial key ratios to see if private equity firms are able to improve performance in their portfolio companies compared to a peer group consisting of other firms within the same industries. Furthermore, we examine if there is a difference in the change of the financial key ratios between private equity-owned firms in the two sectors. The key results are that the private equity owned firms have not outperformed their peers with respect to the chosen key ratios. We also conclude that there is no significant difference in the change of the financial key ratios between private equity-owned firms in the two sectors..

This paper studies the option market?s implied dividend as a predictor of future equity market returns. We introduce this variable in the simple total return framework and discuss some complications of using it as a proxy for the expected dividend. We construct some regressions using the price-dividend ratio and the implied dividend growth, and test them on six years worth of data on the EURO STOXX 50-index. The main result is that implied dividend growth exhibits some forecastability over two-year horizons, but that the dataset is too short to draw any definitive conclusions about long-horizon forecastability.

This study aims to build a deeper understanding on how shareholder value is created in Private Equity investments, especially during the holding period. The study is a qualitative study of the buyout of the access security company Bewator AB made by the Swedish Private Equity firm EQT in 2002. The buyout became highly successful due to various reasons. The study draws the conclusion, contrary to popular belief, that Private Equity firms create value through taking a long term view on business developing rather than being short term value destroyers. Incentive alignment is another important factor..

The concept of brand equity emerged inthe eightiesto justify the long term value of marketing investments. Brand equity signify the value that a brand adds to a product and is the result of the marketing of a brand. One of the most widely used strategies to enhance brand equity is to do a brand extension, which means that a firm uses an established brand to introduce a new product to the market. At worst, a failed brand extension can damage the brand equity, which Vinjamuri (2008) claims that the brand Axe is currently in danger of doing. This January Axe launched an extention including products for both men and women for the first time and Vinjamuri claims that this can disappoint Axe´s former target group (men between 14 and 27 years old) (Newman, 2012). In this thesis Axe´s brand equity among the extensions target group (men and women, age 14 to 27) in Sweden is studied to find out if the brand extension is likely to affect the brand equity in the target group.