Swedish small-cap funds net sold shares for just over 4 billion SEK in February following significant capital outflows. This was reported by Affàrsvärlden, citing data from Holdings.

Cliens Småbolag accounted for the largest net sales with shares totaling nearly 1.5 billion SEK, while TIN Fonder sold the most in relation to portfolio size, equivalent to 11 percent (128 million SEK).

According to Danske Bank, this development is linked to substantial withdrawals from small-cap funds after several years where smaller companies have underperformed compared to broad market indices.

The bank's analyst Jacob Edler says the outflows “have been brutal”.

“When savers sell their fund units, the funds must sell shares to pay out the money while maintaining the weights in each respective company,” he says.

In a comment to Afv, Cliens small-cap manager Max Frydén says their divestments are not linked to large outflows, but rather because they wanted to build up cash reserves ahead of the unrest anticipated in Iran.