Ulf Axelson

Ulf Axelson joined the London School of Economics in 2009. Since August 2015, he is Professor in Finance and Private Equity. Since 2010, he is the inaugural director of the MSc in Finance and Private Equity program. Dr Axelson was previously an Associate Professor of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics, and before that an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Financial Economics from Carnegie Mellon University and holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Professor Axelson's research lies within the fields of private equity, financial innovation and security design, corporate finance, auction theory, and financial intermediation. His research has been published in leading finance journals such as the Journal of Finance and the Review of Financial Studies, and has been widely presented at leading universities as well as numerous conferences. He won the Brattle Group Prize for the best paper in corporate finance published in the Journal of Finance 2009 (for the paper “Why are Buyouts Levered? The Financial Structure of Private Equity Firms,” joint with Per Strömberg and Michael Weisbach), the Brattle Group Distinguished Paper Prize in 2014 (for the paper “Borrow Cheap, Buy High? The Determinants of Leverage and Pricing in Buyout,” joint with Tim Jenkinson, Per Strömberg, and Michael Weisbach), and the Brattle Group Distinguished Paper Prize in 2015 (for the paper “Wall Street Occupation,” joint with Philip Bond). His research was awarded the Henderson Award for Excellence in Economic Theory in 2000.

At the London School of Economics, Pr. Axelson has been teaching applied corporate finance and private equity courses for masters students in Finance, Finance and Private Equity, Accounting, and Management. He has also taught corporate finance courses at the Stockholm School of Economics and the University of Chicago. Professor Axelson was awarded the “Best Teacher” award in the MBA program at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2006, and the LSE Teaching Promotion Award in 2015.

Education

• PH.D Financial Economics GSIA, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA, Oct 1999
• MS Financial Economics GSIA, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA. May 1996
• MBA Stockholm School of Economics Stockholm, Sweden, June 1993

Companies

• Professor in Finance and Private Equity London School of Economics (2010)
• Associated Research Fellow SIFR - Institute for Financial Research (2004)
• Director, Financial Markets Group The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2015 — 2018)
• Associate Professor of Finance Stockholm School of Economics (2006 — 2010)
• Researcher Swedish Institute for Financial Researc (2004 — 2010)
• Assistant Professor University of Chicago, GSB (1999 — 2004)
• PhD student Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business (1994 — 1999)