OSLO, Norway (AP) — Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has bought its shares in 11 Israeli firms, its managers stated Monday, a transfer they stated reduces its holdings within the nation towards the backdrop of the “critical humanitarian disaster” in Gaza.
The administration of the fund, which invests Norway’s earnings from oil and gasoline, stated in an announcement that it had investments in 61 Israeli firms on the finish of this yr’s first half. It stated it determined final week to promote all its investments in 11 companies that aren’t within the Norwegian Finance Ministry’s fairness benchmark index, and has spent latest days finishing these gross sales.
It didn’t establish the businesses involved. The fund additionally stated it is going to transfer all investments in Israeli firms which were run by exterior managers in-house and is terminating contracts with exterior managers in Israel.
“These measures had been taken in response to extraordinary circumstances. The scenario in Gaza is a critical humanitarian disaster,” stated Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norges Financial institution Funding Administration, which manages what’s extensively generally known as the Oil Fund. “We’re invested in firms that function in a rustic at battle, and circumstances within the West Financial institution and Gaza have lately worsened. In response, we’ll additional strengthen our due diligence.”
Tangen added in an announcement that the newest transfer “will simplify the administration of our investments on this market” and scale back the variety of firms that the fund’s council on ethics screens.
The fund’s administration famous that it intensified its monitoring of investments in Israeli firms final fall and bought its holdings in “a number of” companies consequently.
Formally generally known as the Authorities Pension Fund World, the Oil Fund owns almost 1.5% of all shares on the planet’s listed firms, with holdings in about 9,000 companies, in line with its administration’s web site.
