The former world No1 is applying hiswinning attitude to fund management

STEFAN EDBERG is a formerworldnumber one tennis player who has nowset out to dominate the fundmanagementindustry.In a professional tennis career spanning

13 years, Edberg, who is Swedish, won sixGrand Slam singles titles and three GrandSlammen’s doubles titles. Apart fromJohnMcEnroe, he is the only player tohave been ranked number one in bothsingles and doubles.By the time he retired from the

professional circuit in 1996, Edberg, 45,had netted himself more than $20m(£12m) in prizemoney. A desire to takecontrol of his winnings led him to set upCase AssetManagement in Stockholm in2004, along with former hedge fundmanagers Bo Pettersson and FredrikSvensson.The company launched its Safe Play

fund in January, which invests in Nordiccorporate bonds, an area inwhich itbecame heavily involved during thefinancial crisis.Edberg lives in Vaxjo, southern Sweden,

withwife Annette, 45, and their childrenEmilie, 17, and Christopher, 14.

Howmuchmoney do you havein yourwallet?I normally have about 1,000 kronor— theequivalent of £100. I pay formost thingsby credit card.

What credit cards do you use?I have a PlatinumMastercard, whichoffers insurance and a concierge service,and a Visa.

Are you a saver or a spender?I was definitely brought up to be a saverand to treat moneywith respect. At themoment, I have amixture of assets — I’mprobablymore diversified thanmostpeople. For example, I live on a countryproperty with forest and farmland andhave invested in property nearby, too. I’malso in cash, bonds and equities.

Whydid you launch the Safe Play fund?The financial crisis created a lot ofopportunities. Towards the end of 2008,we saw some great upside potential in thecorporate bonds issued by Swedish bankssuch as SEB. Some of the Swedish bankswere in bad shape but we took the stancethat the government wouldn’t let them gobankrupt as it had saved them during thecrisis of the 1990s. I invested a lot ofmoney in them through Fair Play, which

we launched six years ago. It has amixture of equities and debt, but is heavilyexposed to bonds issued by Nordiccompanies, avoiding southern Europe.Fair Play returned 27% in 2009 and 10%

last year, which is great considering ittargets a return of 6%-8% a year. I thinkthe Nordic regionwill be one of themostsecure places to have yourmoney becauseI don’t believe the banks will go under.We have since launched another fund,

called Safe Play, which invests only inNordic corporate bonds, particularly frombanks such as SEB, DnBNOR in Norwayand a small proportion in Danske Bank inDenmark. It aims to achieve a return ofbetween 5% and 7% a year, with low risk.We have had a lot of interest from privateand institutional investors.

Which shares do you invest in?At themoment, it is probably safer to buyinto quality American companies than tobuy US treasuries [government bonds]. I’mbuying Coca-Cola andMicrosoft, whichcan profit from theweak dollar and havethe potential to grow in Asia.I also think there are some good

opportunities in the telecoms sector,which is paying good dividends but haslagged themarket. I’m buying in throughan exchange traded fund (ETF), whichgives exposure to Vodafone (yielding 4.7%),France Telecom (8.9%) and Telefonica(7.2%) and also helps to keep down costs.[ETFs are low-cost funds that track theperformance of an index but can be tradedon the stock exchange like shares.]Commodities and industrials have had

a fast run recently so peoplemight starttaking profits there andmoving intosectors such as telecoms.

Tellmemore about yourproperty investments.I live on a country property, which Ibought in the 1990s. Farmland prices havegone up tremendously in south Swedenandwhilemine is a family home that I’mnot looking to sell, I think it will be a goodinvestment.I have been buying rental properties in

Vaxjo since I started Case in 2004. They aremostly residential but there are also somecommercial office spaces. During thecrisis, I boughtmostly in cash but I tookout a big loan on the last property I boughtin 2009 because the interest rate leviedwas only about 1%. It’s close to 3% nowand Iwill pay off the loan once the rategets too high.

I’m getting rental yields of about 6%.We are not talking Stockholm or Londonrents, but Vaxjo is a growing city.

Howdid you get into finance?It was amatter of taking control of myown life, of themoney Imade throughoutmy career and trying tomanage it in thebest way possible. Before I retired, I wasdependent on a lot of people but now Imanagemost thingsmyself.

Howmuchdid you earn last year?I don’t know exactly, but it was a verygood time to be part of the Swedishmarket. It was one of the betterperformers in the world last year [theOMXNordic Exchange rose 34% last year,comparedwith 9% for the FTSE 100]. I alsoget dividends from Case, which had itsbest ever year in 2010.

Have you ever been really hard up?When I first started playing on tour as ajunior I prettymuch had nothing. I had towin tournaments to paymy expenses.Things picked up pretty quickly when Ileft school at 17 to turn professional.

Whatwas your first job?Playing tennis — apart fromwhat I donow, that has beenmy only job.

What has been yourmostlucrativework?Playing tennis, but hopefully that willchange if Case progresses. If youmake itto the top in tennis, sponsorship earningscome hand-in-handwith prizemoney.For four or five years, I was doing verywell, matching prize moneywithsponsorship earnings.

Are you better off than your parents?Definitely.My father was a policeman andmymumworked in an office but spent alot of time at home.

What is better— property or pension?It depends. If you bought property at theright time and in the right location, thathas probably been the best so far, but younever knowwhat is going to happen. Thekey is diversification. I have a pensionthat I set up duringmy playing years, butthe performance of pensions depends onwhomanages themoney.

What has been your best investment?Mywife and kids. Apart from that, itwould be setting up Case.

What about worst?Imade a few bad calls during the techboom of 2000. I invested in a companycalled Global Crossing and in a localSwedish tech firm. I didn’t lose a hugeamount, though. Everyone was caught upin techmania at the time. It was crazy.

What is themost extravagant thingyou have ever bought?Duringmy tennis career I bought aholiday home inMougins, in the south ofFrance. In 1990 it was quite expensive. Isold it in 2000 andmade a small loss— ifI’d kept it another five years it would havebeen a totally different story.

What aspect of the tax systemwould you change?They have taken away inheritance tax andwealth tax in Sweden, but it has one of thehighest income tax rates in the world [thetop rate is 57% on earnings over 561,000kronor (£55,000)]. Yet the infrastructure,such as schools and healthcare, is verygood and people seem to accept that theyhave to pay a lot of tax to get the benefits.If I were to change anything, it would

be to have a flat tax rate for individualsand companies, [the top rate ofcorporation tax is 26.3%] whichwouldmake things simpler and stop a lot ofavoidance schemes.

What is themost important lessonyou have learnt aboutmoney?The key is to treat it with respect andmake sure you have the right peoplearound you.

FAME&FORTUNESTEFAN EDBERGTALKS TO ALEXANDRA GOSS

Ex-tennisstar netsa fortune

A SUNDAY TIMES Money reader hasforced an airline to pay compensationfor cancelled flights by threateninglegal action.John Williams, 61, from Eastbourne,

East Sussex, suffered two cancellationsby Easyjet, for flights from Faro in Por-tugal to London in September last year.The airline agreed to rebook him on

alternative flights and cover hotel andfood costs while he waited.However, it refused to paymore than

£1,300 compensation that he and hiswife, travelling with him, were entitledto under European Union (EU) rules,which states that airlines are obliged topay compensation, as well as refund orrebook flights, if there was a delay thatcould have been avoided.The Sunday Times has receivedmore

than 250 reader complaints about air-lines refusing to pay claims over thepast six weeks, with many potentiallyflouting consumer protection laws thatwere introduced by the EU in 2004.Williams, a retired investment

banker, had travelled to Portugal toattend a 60th birthday party. He wasdue to fly back from Faro on September6. On arriving at the airport he wasinformed his flight had been cancelled,but was not told the reason.Easyjet agreed to rebook them on a

flight leaving twodays later. It agreed topay for food and hotel costs while hewaited — an obligation under EU rules.However, the second flightwasalso can-celled and he eventually flew back onSeptember 10 on a third flight.Williamsmadea claim for compensa-

tion of ¤400 for himself and his wife foreach of the two cancelled flights — atotal of ¤1,600 (£1,354). Easyjet refusedto pay saying the cancellations weredue to “extraordinary circumstances.”Airlines are not obliged to pay com-

pensation if the delaywasdue to circum-stancesbeyond its control, suchasa gen-eral strike or severe weather.The compensation is paid ona sliding

scale — from ¤125 per person if thelength of the flight was up to 1,500kmand the delay was for up to two hours;up to ¤600 per person if the distancewas more than 3,500km and the delaymore than four hours.Williams filed a case in Eastbourne

County Court to seek clarity over thereason for the cancellations. The judgeordered Easyjet to pay the compensa-tion for the first flight after it failed tosubmit a defence in time. It was alsoforced to pay £75 costs. The airline lateradmitted that the cancellation was dueto an oil leak.A court session to rule on the second

cancellation was due later this month,but last week, Easyjet agreed to pay theremaining ¤800 in vouchers or ¤400 incash. Williams accepted the former. Hesaid: “It’s extraordinary that I had to goto court for the airline to admit why theflight had been cancelled.”Easyjet did not respond to requests

for a comment.

Reader’svictory infight withEasyjet

Ali Hussain

Stefan Edberg saysthe Nordic region isthe place to shelteryour investments

MIKAEL BERTMAR

‘‘SWEDISH PEOPLEACCEPT THAT THEYMUST PAY HIGH TAXTO GET THE BENEFITS

10 MONEY thesundaytimes.co.uk/money 13.03.11