United Bankers unsurprisingly expands into PE funds

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 1/19/2026 at 2:29 am EET.

United Bankers announced on Monday that it is expanding its product range into the private equity market with a new specialized investment fund. This move is in line with our view, and we believe it is justified for the company to expand its product offering to accelerate new sales. The news does not cause immediate changes to our forecasts, but we consider the opening strategically sound.

An expected and strategically consistent move

United Bankers' expansion into PE funds was an expected and logical move. As we have stated before, sales of the company's traditional spearhead products (real estate and forest) have been challenging in the current market environment. Expanding the product range is thus justified to more effectively utilize the company's strong sales machinery. In our view, it is clear that the company wants to grow private equity into a new pillar of its product offering in the long run.

The first product is the UB Private Equity special investment fund. It is an open fund of funds that invests internationally in unlisted targets through other funds, aiming for an annual return of around 8-10%. Tero Wesanko and Teemu Hahl, both recently recruited from Alexandria, are responsible for the fund's portfolio management. We estimate that the company aims for this product to reach a significant size in the long term, which, in UB's case, would mean hundreds of millions of euros in capital.

The growth of peer funds is nothing to write home about

When assessing the fund's sales potential, the best Finnish peers are OP Private Equity (established 3/23, size 62 MEUR 12/25), Alexandria Private Equity (9/24, 25 MEUR), S-Pankki Global Private Assets (6/21, 105 MEUR), and Titanium Private Equity (6/25, 21 MEUR). As the numbers show, the funds have remained surprisingly small, considering the triumph of alternative investment products, for example, in real estate. UB needs to be able to do something differently from its competitors if it wants to grow the fund to a different size class.

The company also announced plans for solutions aimed at professional investors, which in practice means closed-end vintage fund products. However, we expect the first closed-end fund to be launched only at the end of the year, as the company surely wants to use the efforts of the beginning of the year for the successful launch of the open-end fund. In closed-end products, key peers (eQ, Evli, and CapMan) have all succeeded in building a significant business from this.

The effects on forecasts are still neutral

The new fund supports United Bankers' strategy, which focuses on growth in alternative investment products. Expanding the product portfolio is important for the company to return its new sales to a stronger growth trajectory. We have already factored in growing new sales from new products in our forecasts, which is why this launch does not create an immediate need to change our forecasts.