It is well known that small businesses and entrepreneurs in the initial phase has difficult to gain access to external capital and bank loans. With the background of the problems that entrepreneurs face when they ask for capital has since the financial crisis the phenomenon of crowdfunding developed and evolved. Crowdfunding is an alternative source of funding for entrepreneurs to fund their ideas through small or medium-sized capital contribution from a larger amount of Investors, often Investors who have any kind of relationship with the entrepreneur or to the very idea. This study examined the factors that motivate and guide an investor's decisions when they select their projects. The results of the study show that the motives of the various existing forms of crowdfunding is big.

During recent years, financial innovation has given rise to numerous structured investment opportunities aimed towards the general public. These have enabled private Investors to engage in high-risk investments offering as much as 400 per cent leverage while oftentimes not fully having grasped the risk involved. The issuers of these securities have been criticized for using advertising of a too aggressive and misleading nature.By presenting 819 potential Investors with two different investment opportunities yielding the same return over a six day period, we have aimed to assess whether the inclination of being affected by judegmental heuristics varies with factors such as knowledge, overall attitude towards the asset class, risk appetite and experience from previous investments.We have observed that Investors' perception of the attractiveness of an investment can be distorted by altering the information presented to the investor. However, our findings show that this tendency decreases with an increased level of knowledge, experience and risk appetite..

We have in this essay studied the Swedish Hedge Fund Market available for the average Swedish private investor. We have closely looked at the risk measurements that are applicable on the evaluation of Hedge Funds today, and furthermore studied how they are communicated and what they actually contribute with in terms of risk and yield. Our survey attempts to clarify the shortcomings in the communication between the Hedge Fund Managers and their smaller Investors. Do they really know where they put their money? The market is rapidly expanding and our goal was to find improved ways to inform about the Hedge Funds risks and opportunities.

Background: To maintain or increase the trust in the market, companies can disclose more voluntary information in the annual reports. According to prior research the annual report is the primary source of information for small shareholders and Investors. Thus, it is of interest to investigate why companies chose to report the voluntary information inquired by this group. Purpose: We investigate some company-specific factors to decide whether these determine the extent of voluntary information, particularly inquired by small shareholders and Investors, in the annual reports of listed Swedish companies. We also aim to discuss underlying causes for our result.

The change of control clause is nowadays a well used covenant in the Eurobond market, with the aims to protect bondholders in case of a leveraged buyout. This thesis intend to evaluate whether the change of control clause is a new phenomenon in the Eurobond market today and to estimate what have been the driven force for the popularity of it. The thesis found that the change of control clause already existed before and thus it is not a new phenomenon. Several factors where found though to explain the extended use of the clause today. Starting in 2005 the LBO activity increased rapidly, exposing almost every company to the risk of LBO.

With the introduction of the Swedish Code for Corporate Governance in December 2004, most companies listed on the major Swedish stock exchanges were required to have a nomination committee responsible for, among other things, evaluating the incumbent board and nominating new candidates. This master thesis aims at analyzing the effects of these nomination committees on institutional Investors in their corporate governance, through a qualitative study of 13 interviews. We have found that institutional Investors have become more active through their participation in nomination committees and that they have gained more influence over the companies in which they own shares. We believe that in reality nomination committees have more influence over the selection of the board than was intended when the Swedish Code was written..

Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) and Active Ownership have become increasingly important concepts when it comes to the corporate governance of Investors today. Institutional owners highlight the importance of engaging in dialogue, in their pursuit to influence the companies to become sustainable. However, stakeholders and academia are requesting more insight into the workings of these dialogues, concerning their purpose, design and function. This study attempts to increase the existing knowledge of dialogue as a tool for active engagement, used by institutional Investors in Sweden. The performed study is based on interviews with five public and private Swedish institutional Investors, an SRI consultant firm as well as representatives from two NGOs.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between financial risk and ESG scores in order to assist Investors in making investment decisions. We investigate the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the ESG score of a company, and the financial risk in terms of volatility in the relevant company?s share price. The paper is grounded in sustainability reporting and financial risk. With the world facing significant changes and natural disasters, there is an urgent need for action to mitigate environmental impacts to avoid devastating consequences.

Investors? use borrowing as a way to profit from leverage advantages in their portfolios.When Investors borrow with their securities as safety for the loan and the value of thesecurities decrease the investor can get a portfolio with more credit than what is covered bythe value of the securities and risk huge losses. To what extent an investor is allowed toborrow with his portfolio as safety depends on the bank or broker and varies between theproviders. By studying available material and in addition to that making an empirical study Iattempt to find out the reason for the varying degrees of leverage possibilities between thebrokers and how the degree of maximum borrowing on the securities are decided. Thefindings show that decision of leverage degree on a security is made after first making aquantitative analysis of the stocks volatility and liquidity and thereafter make a qualitativeanalysis of the company.

The Swedish household?s savings has increased the last couple of years, according to Statistiska centralbyrån. But the amount of households that trades on the stock market has decreased from the year 2012 to 2013. The diminished interest in stock trading carries a risk by leading to a smaller yield for the private savers, and also effect the business development and the economic growth. High brokerage fees will aggravate the ability to attract venture capital.

Who would not like a profit of more then 95 % in a day? Investors in Sweden had thatopportunity, if they had bought a certain stock on the primary market and sold it on the firsttradable day at the Stock Exchange. Most of that profit fell into the hands of institutionalInvestors. The reason for this extraordinary profit was the underpricing of that specific stockduring its initial public offering (IPO).Our report aims to analyze the relationship between offer price, underpricing and theownership structure of stocks. Our investigation is based on all IPO?s on the Stockholm stockexchange during the years between 2000 and 2005.

Introduction: This thesis is about how the accounting entry provisions are linked to corporate market value. By statistically examining accounting and share data for 56 companies listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, the question of whether accounting information regarding provisions are value relevant for Investors is studied. Listed companies shall follow the rules of IAS 37 ? Provisions, Contingent liabilities and Contingent assets, when preparing financial statements.Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between reported information about provisions and Investors assessment of listed companies that comply with IFRS-regulations, by statistically testing the value relevance of the accounting entry.Method: The study is based on a quantitative, deductive methodological approach. The value relevance of provisions is examined by statistically testing the collected empirical data based on the two models that is described in the reference frame.Results: The conclusion to be drawn from the study is that reported provisions have no statistically significant association with return on shares and thus is not value relevant.

Nearly 74 percent of the Swedish population invests in funds and the options are therefore various. The Swedish private Investors can choose between active and passively managed funds. Fund managers, who seek to generate higher returns than the market, manage active managed funds. Unlike the active managed funds, passively managed funds do not require any active investment decisions.Fama?s (1970) efficient market theory reflects all available information in the stock price, therefore it is not possible to predict how the stock price changes.

Background: Increasingly, companies choose to finance their business with corporate bonds which has resulted in an increased demand on credit ratings. As such the rating agencies have a very important role in the financial markets. Examining the value of a credit-rating can be very interesting for both issuer and investor. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify and define the value of rating. Execution: The study is built upon nine interviews with rated and non-rated firms and Investors.

Title: Inflation and Investments, with Focus on Inflation-linked Bonds.Investors face many types of risks when allocating assets in a portfolio, e.g. volatility and inflation risk. Inflation risk will mainly affect investments in the long perspective. This thesis will examine those risks that an investor is commonly exposed to when allocating assets in a portfolio and in particular inflation-linked risk and how to eliminate it. We examine the correlation between different assets and inflation to determine the assets? ability to hedge inflation risk.