Novo Holdings: Controlling Shareholder of Novo Nordisk - With Kasim Kutay

In this interview, we welcome the CEO of Novo Holdings, which manages the assets and wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, one of the world’s largest enterprise foundations. Novo Holdings is part of the Novo Group, which also incorporates Novo Nordisk and Novonesis (who combined are responsible for much of Novo Holdings’ inflows).
Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company, founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark. Their purpose is to drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases, built upon their heritage in diabetes.
Novonesis, also part of Novo Group, serves 130 markets with enzymatic, microbial and advanced protein solutions.
As of year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had total assets under management of €149bn (DKK 1,114 bn). In addition to managing a broad portfolio of equities, bonds & other assets, it also has a substantial allocation into life sciences.
In this illuminating discussion, Kasim shares Novo Holding’s asset allocation, their corporate structure, the European regulatory context, their long term mission and the importance of the foundation’s life-saving work.
Kasim also covers balancing disbursements to the Novo Nordisk Foundation & re-investment in the fund, some criteria for working with external managers, their engaged ownership approach (especially in life sciences) and why they’re comfortable as a public firm.
He also discusses the challenge of increasing antibiotic resistance, how biology is assisting in the green transition and the breathtaking development of medical research (including the revolutionary role of AI in diagnostics).
TOPICS:
00:00 - Intro and Kasim's Background
01:54 - Early Finance Career & Joining Novo Holdings
04:35 - The Transformative Role of AI in Diagnostics
07:55 - Mission and Strategy
10:56 - Novo Holdings Breakdown
13:58 - Choosing Allocation of Funds
15:10 - Engaged Ownership in Healthcare
16:46 - Antimicrobial Resistance
19:18 - Planet Capital
22:08 - European Regulatory Environment
24:05 - Approach to External Managers
26:07 - Disbursements Vs Reinvestments
27:41 - Ethical Principles
29:53 - Kasim’s Most Important Mentor
19:48 - Managing Stress
32:04 - Golfing, Sports & Info Overload
34:15 - Advice for the Young
36:30 - Concluding Thoughts
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[@kingmiau937]

Super excited for this one! Thanks for uploading, Simon :-)

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