Norway sovereign fund expects to sell more Israeli stocks over Gaza, West Bank
The fund announced on Monday it wasterminating contractswith 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) , 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 afterthe war in Gazabegan, 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.
SIX-MONTH PROFITThe 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.($1 = 10.2223 Norwegian crowns)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Middle East Eye
Israeli Finance Minister rejects Gaza ceasefire, calls it 'partial deal'
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he opposed any ceasefire in Gaza after Hamas said it accepted a deal put forward by Arab mediators. 'We fight only to win! Under no circumstances to stop in the middle with a partial deal that abandons half of the hostages and could lead to ending the war in defeat,' Smotrich wrote in a post on X. Reuters reported on Monday that Hamas accepted a 60 day ceasefire proposal that would see the release of some Israeli captives in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Zawya
a day ago
- Zawya
Norway wealth fund excludes six Israeli companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
OSLO/COPENHAGEN: Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, will exclude another six Israeli companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio following an ethics review, it said on Monday. The $2 trillion wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude but said they would be made public, along with specific reasons, once the divestments were completed. One possibility is they include Israel's five largest banks, which have been under review by the fund's ethical watchdog. Separately, the fund said it had also sold stakes in six other companies following a decision last week to only hold stakes in Israeli companies that are part of the fund's benchmark index. As of August 14, the fund had 19 billion crowns ($1.86 billion) invested in 38 companies listed in Israel, the fund's operator Norges Bank Investment Management said, a reduction of 23 companies since June 30. "More companies could be excluded," Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. ETHICS REVIEW The fund launched an urgent review earlier this month after reports that it had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets. The reports spurred a fresh debate about the fund's investments in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of elections on Sept. 8, with some parties calling for the fund to divest from all Israeli companies, a step the government has ruled out. Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. "This debate helps sharpen our practices," said Stoltenberg. Critics say only a complete withdrawal from investing in Israeli companies would protect the fund against possible ethical breaches. Stoltenberg said that, from now on, the ethics watchdog and NBIM would have more frequent and faster exchanges of information to more rapidly identify problematic companies. Ethical exclusions from the fund are based on recommendations from the fund's watchdog, though NBIM can also divest from companies if it assesses that a company poses too much of a risk to the fund, whether the risk is ethical or not. "With more exchanges of information between the Council on Ethics and Norges Bank, it is possible that there could be more divestments of that kind in future," said Stoltenberg. Last Monday, the fund announced it was terminating contracts with all three external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments. ($1 = 10.1890 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen, editing by Terje Solsvik, William Maclean and Christina Fincher)
Dubai Eye
2 days ago
- Dubai Eye
Norway wealth fund excludes six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude another six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following an ethics review of its Israeli investments. The $2 trillion wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude but said these would be made public, along with specific reasons for each company, once the divestments were completed. One possibility could be that among them are Israel's five largest banks, which have been under review by the fund's ethical watchdog. The latest exclusions bring to 23 the number of Israeli companies the fund has been divesting from since June 30. That number may rise. "More companies could be excluded," Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. Currently the fund holds stakes in 38 Israeli companies, totalling 19 billion crowns ($1.9 billion) in investments, down from 61 companies totalling 23 billion crowns, as of June 30, the fund's operator, Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a letter dated Monday. The latest announcement follows an urgent review launched this month after reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets. The reports spurred a fresh debate about the fund's investments in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of elections on Sept. 8, with some parties calling for the fund to divest from all Israeli companies, a step the government has ruled out. Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. "This debate helps sharpen our practices," said Stoltenberg. Critics say only a complete withdrawal from investing in Israeli companies would protect the fund against possible ethical breaches. Stoltenberg said that, from now on, the ethics watchdog and NBIM would have more frequent and faster exchanges of information between them to identify problematic companies quicker. Ethical exclusions from the fund are based on recommendations from the fund's watchdog, though NBIM can also divest from companies if it assesses that a company can pose too much of a risk to the fund, whether the risk is ethical or not. "With more exchanges of information between the Council on Ethics and Norges Bank, it is possible that there could be more divestments of that kind in future," said Stoltenberg. Last Monday, the fund announced it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments.
