The aim of my dissertation is to study how large institutional investors use convertible bonds in their investment strategies and what are the effects of their trading decisions on the underlying convertible bond market and on the economy in general. Under the microscope are especially convertible arbitrage funds´ holdings. A convertible arbitrage fund is a hedge fund which is specialized in identifying profitable investment opportunities from the convertible bond market. The market of convertibles is extremely concentrated. Around 75% of traded convertibles is held by hedge fund institutions. Hence, these institutional investors´ decisions and the problems faced by them have significant impact how well the convertible bond market operate. Besides studying the convertible holdings of institutional investors and the effects of their decisions on the convertible bond market and economy, I explore also other fixed income securities, such as corporate bonds, in my dissertation. My focus is on institutional investors´ ability to generate positive and significant returns for their own investors by holding the fixed income securities.

Research interests:

Fixed income securities, institutional investors, market frictions

Previous degrees:

M.Sc. (Economics and Business Administration); University of Oulu (Oulu Business School, AACSB Accredited)
- Major in Finance and minors in Economics and Business Administration
- Master´s Thesis title: Convertible arbitrage funds´ liquidity driven trading with other institutional investors´

B.Sc. (Economics and Business Administration); University of Oulu (Oulu Business School, AACSB Accredited)
- Major in Finance and minors in Quantitative Finance and Economics

Working papers:

Institutional Investors and Convertible Bond Selection Skills: Evidence from 13f Holdings with Juha Joenväärä.

Characteristics-based Corporate Bond Portfolio Optimization with Jari Karppinen and Juha Joenväärä.

CV