Latest news with #wealth fund
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Business
- Arab News
Norway wealth fund excludes six companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
OSLO/COPENHAGEN: 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 $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 possibility could be that among them are Israel's five largest banks, which have been under review by the fund's ethical 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 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 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 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 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 say only a complete withdrawal from investing in Israeli companies would protect the fund against possible ethical 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 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 Monday, the fund announced it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments.
Asharq Al-Awsat
9 hours ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund to Exclude Six Israeli 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, totaling 19 billion crowns ($1.9 billion) in investments, down from 61 companies totaling 23 billion crowns, as of June 30, the fund's operator, Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a letter dated Monday. REVIEW 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.
LBCI
7 days ago
- Business
- LBCI
Norway sovereign fund expects to sell more Israeli stocks over Gaza, West Bank
Norway's $2 trillion wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Tuesday it expects to divest from more Israeli companies as part of its ongoing review of investments in the country over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The fund announced on Monday it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled 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.
Asharq Al-Awsat
7 days ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Norway Sovereign Fund Expects to Sell More Israeli Stocks Over Gaza, West Bank
Norway's $2 trillion wealth fund, the world's largest, said on Tuesday it expects to divest from more Israeli companies as part of its ongoing review of investments in the country over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The fund announced on Monday it was terminating contracts with all three of its external asset managers who handled 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. The fund is now taking a closer look at the remaining 50 Israeli companies in the portfolio and will report back to the finance ministry by an August 20 deadline. "There is good reason to believe that there will be further sell-outs," Deputy CEO Trond Grande told Reuters, without saying how many companies could be affected. The government has repeatedly ruled out divesting from Israel as a whole on the grounds it would mean the fund was divesting from these companies for being Israeli. 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 during a press conference earlier. 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. ELECTION Norway faces a general election on September 8 and multiple politicians have called on Tangen to resign in light of the Israeli investments. He ruled out stepping down, saying he had carried out the fund's mandate, as decided by parliament. "I haven't even thought about it," he said in an interview. "We (at the fund) have not made any kind of formal mistakes. We have ended up in a situation that has been unfortunate, but we are executing on the mandate." The fund, which invests the Norwegian state's revenues from oil and gas production, owns on average 1.5% of all listed stocks worldwide. It also invests in bonds, real estate and renewable energy projects. Separately, parliament's constitutional and control committee was meeting on Tuesday to discuss what to ask Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg regarding the fund's Israeli investments. It is expected Stoltenberg will have a week to answer the questions, public broadcaster NRK reported. EXTERNAL PORTFOLIO MANAGERS The fund's use of external portfolio managers has also been under scrutiny. NBIM is now looking through its procedures regarding all external portfolio managers and the risk of relationships with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), Tangen said. One immediate lesson, he said, is that "if we have a country that goes into war, we would probably take the asset management back very quickly". He did not say if the fund would make additional changes. For non-Israeli companies with business in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the fund would continue to monitor the ethical risk they may pose and grade them in different risk categories, Grande said. That work would be done with the fund's ethical watchdog, the Council on Ethics, which makes recommendations for divestments if the companies are deemed to breach ethical guidelines set by the Norwegian parliament.
Argaam
7 days ago
- Business
- Argaam
Norway's wealth fund makes $68 billion in H1 2025
Norway's sovereign wealth fund posted gains of NOK 698 billion ($68.28 billion) in the first six months of the year, boosted by strong returns in financial sector stocks. From January to June, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, valued at $2 trillion, returned 5.7%. "The result is driven by good returns in the stock market, particularly in the financial sector," CEO Nikolai Tangen said in a statement. The fund is considered one of the largest investors in the world, owning an average of 1.5% of all listed stocks globally. It also invests in bonds, real estate, and renewable energy projects. The return on its equity investments during the first half of this year reached 6.7%, the return on fixed income investments reached 3.3%, unlisted real estate reached 4%, and renewable energy infrastructure reached 9.4%.
