How the firm works.
Axion Investment Management manages capital for families and individuals from Calgary, across venture capital, wealth and asset management, and family office mandates.
How portfolios are built
We begin with the family’s objectives, liquidity needs and investment policy. Axion has no in-house funds or investment products to place.
Six steps, applied across mandates.
The detail differs for venture, private and public holdings.
- 01
Diligence
Five tests of the business, its management and its balance sheet before any long hold. The last is a written exit assumption. The five tests
- 02
Sizing
A concentrated portfolio, so each position can be understood well enough to act on. Venture reserves for later rounds are set aside at the first investment.
- 03
Entry
Capital is committed in stages, often starting with a smaller first tranche than the initial discussion suggested.
- 04
Holding record
A written note of what each holding is, why it is owned and what would have to change before it is sold.
- 05
Review
A position changes when the reasons recorded for it no longer hold.
- 06
Exceptions
We move quickly in three cases: correcting a mistake, meeting a capital call, and an opportunity available only for a short time.
Working with clients
Trading authority
How much authority we have to trade is agreed in writing with each client.
Partners’ capital
The partners invest their own capital alongside clients.
Legal and tax
Axion does not give legal or tax advice. Estate, trust and tax work is coordinated with each client’s own lawyers and accountants.
Confidentiality
We don’t name clients, and we keep a low public profile so the families and founders we work with can keep theirs.