Latest news with #ethics council
Zawya
12 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
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 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 divestment was completed. The 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 fund's ethics council watchdog said it would continue to assess Israeli companies every quarter. Exclusions from the fund are based on recommendations from the fund's ethics watchdog. The fund had also separately sold stakes in several other companies that were not part of the ethics review, it said, 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, it said, noting this was a reduction of 23 companies since June 30. The number of companies will decline further once the six ethics-based divestments are made, it said. The fund announced last Monday that it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments. Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. ($1 = 10.1932 Norwegian crowns) (Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)
Bloomberg
13 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Norway's $2 Trillion Fund to Sell Off More Israeli Companies
Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund announced it is selling more Israeli companies in its latest move to address the public uproar over its investments linked to the war in Gaza. The fund's board decided on Aug. 8 to divest six companies on recommendations from its external ethics council at the end of June and the beginning of July, the Norges Bank Investment Management said in a letter to the Finance Ministry on Monday. Another six 'smaller' companies have been sold since Aug. 11, it said, without naming any of the firms.
Reuters
14 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Norway wealth fund excludes six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
COPENHAGEN, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude 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 divestment was completed. The 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 fund's ethics council watchdog said it would continue to assess Israeli companies every quarter. Exclusions from the fund are based on recommendations from the fund's ethics watchdog. The fund had also separately sold stakes in several other companies that were not part of the ethics review, it said, 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, it said, noting this was a reduction of 23 companies since June 30. The number of companies will decline further once the six ethics-based divestments are made, it said. The fund announced last Monday that it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments. Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. ($1 = 10.1932 Norwegian crowns)
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Norway sovereign wealth fund to exclude six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
COPENHAGEN, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following a 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 once the divestment was completed. The 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 fund's ethics council watchdog said it would continue to assess Israeli companies every quarter.
