Stockholm (NordSIP) – A month into his new assignment as Head of ESG for Norwegian boutique asset manager ODIN Fonder’s Swedish branch, Nikolay Burdakov admits he is impatient to start working “for real”. After getting a crash course in ‘the ODIN model’, both at the company’s Oslo headquarters and in his new office in Stockholm, he feels ready to get properly involved in the investment decision process and start digging deeper into portfolio companies’ ESG analysis.
“So far, the company truly exceeds all my expectations,” says Burdakov enthusiastically. He explains how he managed to carve out an expert role in sustainability assurance and advisory at KPMG, after pursuing a career in auditing and corporate finance for almost a decade at the firm. At Swedbank, he continued to hone his ESG advisory skills for a few years and felt increasingly drawn towards sustainability analysis. Seeing greater opportunities to develop in this direction within asset management, he started looking actively for an organisation aligned with his take on sustainability.
“ODIN’s focus on long-term value creation by investing only in quality companies that contribute to a sustainable transition appealed to me directly,” says Burdakov. “The more I learn about the way my new colleagues invest and have been doing it since the 90s, the more convinced I am that I have come to the right place.”
At ODIN, the portfolio managers and analysts have always been responsible for performing ESG analyses of the companies they want to invest in, with active support from the ESG team based in Oslo. Adding a dedicated ESG resource to the Swedish investment team signals an increased sustainability ambition. “Conducting our own independent ESG analyses, however onerous, is an important part of ODIN’s investment strategy,” explains Burdakov. “ESG ratings do not provide a complete picture of the sustainability risks a company faces, especially when it comes to the small and mid-sized companies that we tend to invest in.”
Identifying companies with credible transition plans is another part of the assignment that Burdakov is excited about. “I look forward to having active dialogues with portfolio companies and nudging them to improve on key ESG aspects. So far in my career, I have yet to meet a company that is perfect with regard to sustainability. There is always room for improvement,” he adds.
With a solid background in financial audit, it comes as no surprise that governance issues are particularly close to Burdakov’s heart. While he notes that the ‘G’ in ESG often gets overshadowed by the urgency of environmental and social issues, his experience has taught him that the first thing a company should invest in is a solid governance structure. “Understanding governance’ nitty-gritty is key as it directly affects a company’s bottom line,” he says. “Ultimately, sound governance is a prerequisite for conducting efficient work on environmental and social issues, too.”
It has been almost ten years now since Burdakov moved from his hometown, Ekaterinburg in Russia, to Sweden, as part of KPMG’s International Mobility program. He felt immediately at home here, he says. “Value-wise, I have always felt much more aligned with Scandinavians than with my country’s politicians.” Taking on the role as Head of ESG at ODIN Sweden marks yet another step towards aligning his work and his personal values. Burdakov certainly seems to have found a trajectory he wants to stay on.
