Four December sell-downs in the Nordic region

The size of these sell-downs ranges from the pony-sized present that Axcel's Pandora shares landed them, to a more modest Munksjö sell-off by EQT – perhaps more akin to a nice, warm Christmas jumper.

Below are four private equity sell-downs of publicly traded companies in December, ranked from highest to lowest value.

1 – Axcel: Pandora

The Danish GP's sale of 4.8 million Pandora shares at DKK 519.2 apiece, implies a profit of around DKK 2.5bn for Axcel – more than four times what it paid for the company in 2008.

Now fully exited, the GP will look back fondly on an investment that brought in DKK 20bn in total, with a whopping return of 40x money.

• Acquired: 2008
• Listed: 2010
• Share price at IPO: DKK 210
• Current price: DKK 473 (16/12/2014)
• % Increase: 125%
• Peak: DKK 536 (8/12/2014)
• Market cap: DKK 60bn (16/12/2014)
• Profit on sale: DKK 2.49bn

2 – EQT, Goldman Sachs: ISS

EQT and Goldman Sachs will share DKK 4.05bn between them after they cut their joint stake in Danish facilities management company ISS by 13.4% to 19.3% (landing them at number two on this list as they each take home less than Axcel's Pandora score, assuming a 50/50 split).

The two GPs sold 25 million shares at DKK 162 through their joint holding vehicle, FS Invest II, taking a 4.3% discount on the day's closing price.

• Acquired: 2005
• Listed: 2014
• Share price at IPO: DKK 160
• Current price: DKK 165.40 (16/12/2014)
• % Increase: 3.3%
• Peak: DKK 201.9 (13/5/2014)
• Market cap: DKK 30.6bn (16/12/2014)
• Profit on sale: DKK 4.05bn

3 – Nordic Capital: Bufab

Nordic Capital's present to its LPs this December came in the form of a final exit from Swedish components producer Bufab, which returned more than 3x money to the GP's fifth fund.

Opening on SEK 55.5 a share on 4 December when Nordic Capital's 7.6 million shares were sold, the firm will wake up to find an estimated SEK 420m under the tree this year.

• Acquired: 2005
• Listed: 2014
• Share price at IPO: SEK 46
• Current price: SEK 55 (16/12/2014)
• % Increase: 19.5%
• Peak: SEK 67 (2/6/2014)
• Market cap: SEK 2bn (16/12/2014)
• Profit on sale: SEK 420m

4 – EQT: Munksjö

If speciality paper manufacturer Munksjö's offering had included wrapping paper, EQT may have held off on selling its entire 12% stake in the company until after the holiday season, though the estimated €46m it brought in should be able to pay for all the wrapping EQT could possibly need.

The GP's sale of 6.13 million shares at around 765 cents each marked EQT's full exit from the Helsinki-listed company, which also received approval for a secondary listing in Stockholm.

• Acquired: 2004
• Listed: 2013
• Share price at IPO: 595 cents
• Current price: 794 cents (16/12/2014)
• % Increase: 33%
• Peak: 839 cents (11/12/2014)
• Market cap: €415m (16/12/2014)
• Profit on sale: €46m

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