Proventus started sourcing private credit transactions after becoming increasingly active in the bond market. They recognized situations that were not suitable for equity and required capital beyond what the banks could offer. Whereas the bank market, the public stock market, and the private equity market were all mature and well-developed markets in Northern Europe, the market for private debt was virtually non-existent.

However, the need for this type of funding was limited because Nordic banks were quite liquid and aggressive at this time. In this environment, Proventus saw no point in focusing on vanilla, well-packaged situations that were easy to analyze and fund; their strategy focused primarily on more complex situations where bank or bond funding was not available, and where they could be well compensated for acting as problem solvers providing innovative, tailor-made mezzanine funding. Proventus also contributed to the borrower’s business by their great know-how from active ownership, highly relevant also as a lender within these segments. Proventus was able to build a leading presence in this fledgling market.