As private equity continues to evolve, co-investments have become an increasingly attractive strategy for LPs looking to gain more control, reduce fee drag, and capture outsized returns. In this exclusive interview, Jørgen Blystad, Investment Director at Argentum, delves into the firm’s co-investment philosophy—highlighting how they evaluate opportunities, manage risk, and leverage long-standing GP relationships across Europe.
From differentiated buyout strategies to ESG integration, Blystad offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Argentum approaches co-investing with discipline and conviction in a competitive landscape.
With over €3 billion in AUM, Argentum is a dedicated private equity asset manager with a sharp focus on fund selection and co-investments. Since 2001, the firm has invested on behalf of the Norwegian state and a select group of institutional clients, including pension funds, foundations, and family offices—combining local insight with global standards of excellence.
What are Argentum’s key criteria when selecting co-investment opportunities?
Argentum searches for co-invest opportunities in high-quality assets with limited downside risk while still maintaining high upside potential, managed by GPs that we trust and have a strong track record.
What are the primary risks and benefits for limited LPs engaging in co-investments?
There are benefits as we see it in terms of having the opportunity to achieve alpha returns by selecting better-than-average PE investment cases and by reducing the typically high fees associated with PE.
Primary risks include possible negative selection, coupled with the fact that co-investments tend to have a relatively high investment size.
Argentum primarily focuses on buyouts with some allocation to VC funds. Are there differences in your approach when considering co-investments in these two types of funds?
We typically favor buyout cases, because we see better risk/return there. We have experience with VC co-investments quite far back in time, but have moved away from it since it is difficult to identify which companies that will emerge as future winners.
How does Argentum mitigate potential risks such as adverse selection, concentration risk, and execution challenges in co-investments?
We benefit from our extensive investment experience when doing our own considerations based on the GP’s due diligence. Our goal is to turn the concentration risk into a positive factor, investing only in high-conviction cases. We have a specialized team that works on co-invest opportunities, for smooth execution on our side.
Are there specific European markets or sectors where Argentum has developed a particularly strong network and expertise in co-investments?
I would say that we like companies that uses technology as a key part of the business model. In terms of geography, we are looking for the most attractive opportunities in Europe and have done co-investments in all of our key regions.
How do you identify and build relationships with GPs that align with Argentum’s co-investment strategy?
Argentum has a portfolio of about 100 GP relationships, where we constantly have our eyes open for co-investment opportunities.
How does Argentum integrate ESG considerations into its co-investment decision-making process?
ESG considerations is an integral part of our investment process, and we perform analysis of ESG factors before any investment.
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