When Swedish investment group Carneo acquired Norway-based Holberg -- the first asset manager to launch a global, seafood-specific investment fund -- one of its key architects didn't come along.

That architect, Hogne Tyssoy, instead gathered a handful of executives from the business and financial sectors and founded a maritime-focused investment company of his own, Bergen Private Equity.

The firm was going to invest in both public and private ventures. The ambitions were big: Tyssoy wanted to raise a billion Norwegian kroner.