Building Liquidity Around an Illiquid Core at Aars

Key Takeaways

• Aars allocates 75% of assets to illiquid private companies.
• Remaining 25% (~$700M) split into treasury, equity, and multi‑asset portfolios.
• Multi‑asset portfolio leans heavily on credit and systematic hedge funds.
• CTAs deliver crisis alpha, performing best in market turbulence.
• Manager vetting focuses on philosophy adherence and stress‑test performance.

Pulse Analysis

Family offices that own substantial private‑equity stakes often grapple with the paradox of needing liquidity without compromising long‑term value creation. Aars, the investment vehicle of Norway’s Møller family, illustrates how a disciplined, tiered approach can reconcile these goals. By carving out roughly a quarter of its capital—about $700 million—as a distinct liquidity layer, the office safeguards cash flow for opportunistic deals and unforeseen obligations while keeping the bulk of its wealth entrenched in industrial assets that define its heritage.

The three‑pillar model consists of a low‑risk treasury portfolio, an in‑house Nordic large‑cap equity fund, and a flexible multi‑asset absolute‑return portfolio. Within the latter, credit dominates, complemented by systematic hedge‑fund allocations and a 10‑12% slice dedicated to trend‑following CTAs. This blend offers a “floor” of stable income from investment‑grade bonds and high‑yield exposure, while the systematic strategies provide convexity and crisis alpha when markets turn volatile. Rigorous stress‑testing underpins every allocation decision, ensuring that downside scenarios are explicitly modeled and mitigated.

Christensen’s manager‑selection framework further differentiates Aars. He demands strict adherence to a manager’s stated philosophy, scrutinizes performance during stress periods, and balances quantitative metrics with qualitative judgment. The office maintains a patient stance, staying invested through short‑term underperformance as long as the underlying process remains sound, yet it is prepared to exit swiftly if a manager deviates from their core approach. This combination of structured liquidity, systematic risk‑adjusted returns, and disciplined oversight offers a replicable template for other ultra‑wealthy families seeking to balance illiquid legacy holdings with the need for agile capital deployment.