World's biggest investment fund expects to sell more Israeli stocks due to situation in Gaza and West Bank
The fund announced on Monday it was terminating contracts with external asset managers handling some of its Israeli investments and has divested parts of its portfolio in the country over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The review began last week following media reports that the fund had built a stake of just over 2% in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets.
The stake in the company, Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL) BSEN.TA, has now been sold, the fund announced on Tuesday.
Bet Shemesh did not respond to requests for comment.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), an arm of Norway's central bank, which held stakes in 61 Israeli companies as of June 30, in recent days divested stakes in 11 firms, including BSEL. It did not name the other companies.
'We expect to divest from more companies,' NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen told a press conference on Tuesday.
The fund began investing in BSEL in November 2023, about one month after the war in Gaza began, via an external investment manager, Tangen said. The fund declined to name the external portfolio manager.
Since then, NBIM has held quarterly meetings with Bet Shemesh Holdings, but the war in Gaza was not raised as a theme.
'We had discussions about their business in the United States, not about the war in Gaza,' Tangen said, adding that the fund had rated BSEL as a 'medium-risk' stock with regards to ethics concerns.
BSEL was later reviewed as a high-risk stock in May. That change should have been quicker, Tangen said, adding that NBIM should have had a tighter overview of these investments earlier.
'We should have been quicker in taking back control of the Israeli investments,' he said.
The fund, which invests the Norwegian state's revenues from oil and gas production, is one of the world's largest investors, owning on average 1.5% of all listed stocks worldwide. It also invests in bonds, real estate and renewable energy projects.
On Tuesday, it posted a 698 billion Norwegian crowns ($68.28 billion) profit for the first half of the year, earning an overall return of 5.7% in line with its benchmark index.
'The result is driven by good returns in the stock market, particularly in the financial sector,' Tangen said in a statement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
Thousands of Israelis protest war in Gaza, call for return of remaining hostages
Fox News national correspondent Jeff Paul reports from Tel Aviv on protests calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war on 'Fox News Live.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Thirsty Trump's Desperate Cold-Call About Nobel Peace Prize
President Donald Trump has stooped to cold calling Norwegian diplomats in his long-suffering bid to be awarded the country's coveted Noble Peace Prize. Norway's Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, the former NATO secretary-general, confirmed to Politico that Trump called him to discuss tariffs and economic cooperation between the two countries. 'It is true that President Trump called me a few days before his conversation with Prime Minister (Jonas Gahr) Støre. Several of the president's staff members also participated in the conversation, including Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer,' said Stoltenberg. However, Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reported on Thursday that the topic of the Nobel Peace Prize was also raised in their discussions, and it was the second such time that the topic was raised during a call. Stoltenberg added, 'I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation.' In recent months, Trump has frequently proclaimed that he believes that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize much more than the previous four presidents who have received the award—especially more than former President Barack Obama. '(Obama) didn't even know why the hell he got it, right? He still doesn't,' Trump told a Las Vegas audience last year during a campaign stop, The Independent reported. 'He got elected, and they announced he's getting the Nobel Prize. I got elected in a much bigger, better, crazier election, but they gave him the Nobel Prize.' In his second term, Trump has publicly ramped up the pressure to get his hands on the award and he has enlisted the help of his MAGA proxies to prove he is Nobel-worthy. Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu wrote a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee praising Trump for his role in negotiating the 2020 Abraham Accords. Laying it on thick, Netanyahu claimed that Trump was 'forging peace, as we speak, in one country in the region after another.' Armenia and Azerbaijan have also publicly come out in support of Trump winning the prize after a successful Aug. 8 summit at the White House saw the two countries walk away with a joint peace agreement to end a 37-year conflict, the Atlantic Council reported. 'I think President Trump deserved to have the Nobel Peace Prize,' Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the White House, 'and we will defend that, we will promote for that.' Now all eyes are on Trump's highly-anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska as he looks to finally put an end to Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine once and for all, something he promised to do on 'day one' of his presidency. A former aide in Trump's first term told The Hill 'there's no question the pressure's on' for the administration to secure the prize. 'Trump sees this prize as the ultimate capstone to how history will remember him,' they added. Yet even if Trump doesn't broker peace between Russian and Ukraine, MAGA pundit Geraldo Rivera declared that Trump deserves it anyway. 'If you have a president of the United States trying so hard... for peace, even if he's not totally successful, just the effort is so, it's so overt, it's so public, it's so aggressive. You know, he deserves recognition at least for that,' Rivera told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty on Wednesday. 'If he does end this war, Geraldo, can they deny him the Nobel Peace Prize?' Finnerty asked. 'Hell no,' Rivera said. 'I think that this and/or Gaza would put him on the fast track, and anyone to deny that, I think, would really be putting their partisan politics in front of their logic.' The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded at a ceremony on Dec. 10, 2025, in Stockholm, Sweden. The Daily Beast has contacted White House representatives for comment on Trump's campaign push for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tens of thousands of Israelis protest for end to Gaza war
Clutching pictures of hostages, waving yellow flags, banging on snare drums and shouting chants to bring captive Israelis home, tens of thousands took to Tel Aviv's streets Sunday to call for an end to the war in Gaza. "We're here to make it very clear to the Israeli government that this is probably the last minute we have to save the hostages that are being held in the Hamas tunnels for almost 700 days," Ofir Penso, a 50-year-old Arabic teacher, told AFP. Demonstrations have been held regularly through most of the 22 months of war in the wake of the Hamas attacks in 2023, but Sunday's protests appeared to be one of the largest yet. The renewed energy of the movement came with the government deciding just over a week ago to seize Gaza City and nearby camps in a new offensive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to conquer the most populated swathes of the Gaza Strip has triggered an international backlash while aid agencies and UN experts have warned of unfolding famine in the territory. Recent video footage released by Palestinian militants showed hostages heavily emaciated and pale -- spurring fears that the captives' health is more fragile than ever. Many in the crowd wore makeshift patches on their shirts made with pieces of tape with the number 681 -- the number of days the hostages have been held captive in Gaza -- scrawled in marker pen. Of the 251 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 remain in the Gaza Strip, including 27 the Israeli military has said are dead. - 'Enough is enough' - Snaking along downtown streets, shadowed by glass towers, the crowd converged on Tel Aviv's Hostage Square -- the focal point of movement. "The Israeli government has never offered a genuine initiative for a comprehensive agreement and an end to the war," Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is being held captive in Gaza, told the crowd. "We demand a comprehensive and achievable agreement and an end to the war. We demand what is rightfully ours -– our children." The war has also touched on other frustrations for many who took to the streets. "The whole country is fighting with each other, our image around the world has completely changed, worse than it ever was, and enough is enough," Nick, a 31-year-old tech worker, told AFP, asking not to use his last name. Others worried about the fate of their own children enlisted in the Israeli military who had been sent to Gaza and feared that they might soon be recalled to fight. "We are hoping and praying that our government will hear us and listen to us," said Ella Kaufman from Kadima Zoran, who has two sons serving as officers in the Israeli army. "I'm also a concerned mother." While thousands took to the streets, there were others in Tel Aviv who hoped for an end to the war but in different circumstances. "No, I won't be protesting against Bibi, because I think that he has to finish the work, he has to finish the war," said Patrick Menache, a 69-year-old real estate investor in Tel Aviv, using a common nickname for Netanyahu. Nevertheless, he admitted the war had taken a toll. "Everybody is tired, the hostages are tired, the families are tired, the Palestinians are tired, everybody is tired." ds/dcp/dv
