About Us

ROYC was built by private equity professionals and fintech executives to address the needs of the private wealth market
Expand beyond public trading

Wealth management is structurally underexposed to investments in private markets. Private market investments have for long been a source of uncorrelated and superior returns relative to public trading.

Find and access the best opportunities

Gaining broad access to private market investment opportunities has been challenging for non large institutional investors, limiting the ability to build diversified portfolios.

Manage investments with ease

Investors and their advisors need a consistently curated selection of private market opportunities, accessible via a modern digital platform, without the associated operational complexities.

Our people

To build ROYC we brought together a high caliber team of seasoned private equity professionals, operational experts and fintech executives with extensive networks, track-records and decades of experience from some of the largest and most reputable global players.

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Our belief

Client centricity​

Our aim is to provide exceptional service and deliver attractive long-term outcomes for our clients.

Discipline

We place a high value on fact based decision making and attention to detail, as that is essential in forming a strong conviction in what we pursue and to achieve the best outcomes.

Alignment​

Our incentives are aligned with those of our clients, where no conflicts of interest are allowed.

Integrity

Discretion, transparency and honesty is paramount​.

Technological​ innovation​

We are strong believers in technology and looking to bring innovative solutions to our clients.

Sustainability

We consistently look to be more sustainable in everything we do.

Meet our founders

Founder & President​
Mathias Leijon

Mathias brings 25 years of experience in banking, asset management and private wealth. Prior to forming ROYC, he was in a number of senior roles with Nordea, most recently as Global Head of its Corporates, Institution and Investment Banking division with €1.7 billion in Revenues and €50 billion lending book. He was also CIO/Head of Fundamental Equities at Nordea asset management with €300 billion in assets under management. Before Nordea he held Senior Portfolio Management roles in Switzerland with Pictet, a $200 billion private wealth manager and in Sweden with Stena's family office. Mathias is passionate about building long term relationships and has a deep understanding of the private wealth market dynamics and investment needs.

Fun fact:
Mathias tried to go pro as an ice hockey player in the NHL. He is a team player at heart, always looking for the next challenge.
Experience:
25 years​
Education:
Uppsala University, National University of Singapore
Founder & Co-CEO​
Octavian Popescu

Before founding ROYC, Octavian was a Managing Director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Fund ($34 billion flexible investment strategy, unconstrained by asset class, industry, sector, security type or geography). He joined Blackstone in 2013 in New York, and subsequently moved to the London office. He started his career in 2005 at Neuberger Berman and later at Bank of America and Centre Lane Partners. Octavian has executed a number of large and complex transactions including buyouts, minority deals and growth equity investments. He has sector expertise within fintech, digital consumer, enterprise software,healthcare, financial services and education.

Fun fact:
Octavian is a retired DJ who used to have his own record label in New York.
Experience:
17 years
Education:
University of Illinois
Founder & Co-CEO​
Oscar von Reis​

Oscar spent most of his career at Blackstone, one of the largest and most reputable private fund managers in the world with $975 billion of assets under management. He joined Blackstone Tactical Opportunities ($34 billion flexible investment strategy, unconstrained by asset class, industry, sector, security type or geography) at its inception in 2012 and was a Managing Director in their London investment team before founding ROYC. His early career includes Blackstone’s M&A Advisory and Financial Restructuring group and J.P. Morgan. Oscar has broad private markets experience including corporate, real estate and platform investments across EMEA. His sector expertise includes commercial and residential real estate, financial services, alternative energy, industrials and consumer.

Fun fact:
Oscar types on a mechanical gaming keyboard to make sure he is ready for any potential CS:GO match.
Experience:
15 years​
Education:
Stockholm School of Economics, Duke University

Executive management

Before joining ROYC, Hassina was the Head of Fund Operations at abrdn (wealth manager with £460billion of AuM). In her role, she supervised a team of Senior Fund Controllers and Fund Controllers across the EMEA region and was accountable for overseeing a substantial number of private equity and infrastructure products. Hassina is also a proud holder of the CFA Charter.

Hassina is an active volunteer at a Temple that regularly holds congregations for up to 3,000 people. Recently she was part of a team that prepared 53 different food dishes from all over the world within 3 hours for a special event. Hassina has clearly mastered the art of successfully spinning many plates at once.

Hassina Jesani
Head of Fund Operations

Hedvig is a Managing Partner at ROYC, responsible for Norway. She joined ROYC from Nordea where she was a Director in Corporates and Institutions, responsible for the private equity segment in the energy sector, advising clients on debt structuring, acquisition finance and risk management. Prior to that, Hedvig was a strategic COO for Nordeas Corporates, Institution, and Investment Banking division. Hedvig has an extensive background in finance, from both the public and private side, combined with a true passion for creating impact and long-term customer relationships.

Hedvig has sailed across the Atlantic, so she knows how to weather out the storm.

Hedvig Meidell
Managing Partner Norway

David co-founded Vestra Wealth in 2008, which became one of the fastest growing wealth management platforms in Europe and reached £16 billion of AuM by the time it was acquired by LGT in late 2020. Prior to that, David spent 14 years at UBS Wealth Management covering UHNWIs and International clients. Since 2020, he has been an adviser to the French government on international trade matters.

David's sound system is equipped with 12 Devialet Phantom speakers generating 1,200 dB, equivalent to eight Boeing 737s taking off simultaneously. David knows how to put his message out there.

David Blanc
Managing Partner Continental Europe & UK

Johanna joined ROYC from Nordea’s Large Corporates and Institutions division where she was a Director and Client Executive for Financial Institutions. Before that she spent ten years in asset management both in operations and portfolio management.

Johanna has sung in choirs since the age of 4 (and still going strong), been in a rock band as well as an accompany pianist to opera singers. On top of that she has academic credit in West African dance. She clearly knows how to set the right tone.

Johanna Jungner
Head of Investor Services

Most recently, Oliver was CTO at Qred (a FinTech awarded by Financial Times "Top 10 fastest growing companies in Europe"), where he focused on building modern, robust and scalable technology solutions in a regulated context. Oliver has also led numerous technical due diligence projects on behalf of Nordic Capital.

Oliver was contemplating going pro at golf. He tells us he once hit the 150m sign on the driving range five times in a row with his 7-iron. We thought only robots could do that.

Oliver Dolan
Chief Technology Officer

Steffen comes with a long history from Nordea where he most recently was heading the Investment Product unit. He was responsible for the full investment product universe across all client segments, both as it relates to development and legal structuring of products. Steffen is a lawyer by trade, and based out of Copenhagen.

Steffen once got stuck on the Amazon river for hours and was rescued by the natives. He since knows the importance of local connections.

Steffen Pihlmann
Managing Partner Denmark