Norwegian flags flutter at Karl Johans street in Oslo, Norway, May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
OSLO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Norway's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, will divest its Russian assets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Norwegian prime minister said on Sunday.
The fund's Russian assets, consisting of shares in some 47 companies as well as government bonds, were worth 25 billion Norwegian crowns ($2.83 billion) at the end of 2021, down from 30 billion crowns a year earlier, the government said.
"We have decided to freeze the fund's investments and have begun a process of selling out (of Russia)," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere holds a news conference on the situation in Ukraine, in Oslo, Norway February 24, 2022. NTB/Heiko Jungevia REUTERS/File Photo
At the end of 2020, the last time the fund gave a breakdown of its Russian assets, it held government bonds worth 6.7 billion crowns and equities worth 23.3 billion crowns, according to Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM).
The most valuable stake in an individual firm at the end of 2020 was in Sberbank (SBER.MM), where it held 0.83% worth 6.0 billion crowns at the time, making the fund the fourth-largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
The second and third largest stakes at the end of 2020 were in energy firms Gazprom and Lukoil (LKOH.MM).
Russia's stock market has plunged this week in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. read more
($1 = 8.8197 Norwegian crowns)
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norway-says-its-sovereign-fund-will-divest-russia-2022-02-27/
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Norway’s $1.3tn oil fund to ditch Russian investments
Decision by the Norwegian government underlines how
financial pressure on Russia is increasing
People hold a flag of Ukraine as they walk towards the Russian Assembly during a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Oslo on Saturday © via REUTERS
Daniel Thomas in London, Robin Wigglesworth and Richard
Milne in Oslo YESTERDAY Jump to comments section Print this page
Norway’s $1.3tn oil fund will dump its Russian investments
as part of a wider package of support for Ukraine, highlighting how the
international financial pressure on Moscow is being ratcheted up.
Norges Bank Investment Management, the sovereign wealth fund
housed inside Norway’s central bank, has been instructed to immediately freeze
all new investments in Russia and to begin unwinding its existing $3bn worth of
Russian holdings, according to a statement from the Norwegian government on
Sunday evening.
“Russia’s attack on Ukraine has challenged Europe’s security
in a way we have not seen since the second world war,” said Jonas Gahr Store,
Norway’s prime minister. “It challenges our norms, our values and the
principles that our democratic society is based on.”
The fund — the world’s largest sovereign wealth investor —
held NKr27bn ($3.1bn) in shares in the country at the end of 2021, according to
a spokesperson. That equates to 0.2 per cent of NBIM’s total of assets under
management.
“We will implement the decisions made by the Norwegian
government and now freeze the fund’s investments in Russia, meaning we will
neither buy nor sell shares,” NBIM said in a statement to the Financial Times.
“Together with the ministry of finance, we will prepare a plan to divest from
the Russian market.”
Nicolai Tangen, the state fund’s chief executive and a
former hedge fund manager, had this week indicated that he thought divesting
from Russia altogether was a bad idea.
“This is obviously a dilemma, but selling out of a market is
not black-or-white,” he told a local newspaper. “The Moscow stock exchange has
fallen markedly in recent days, and if we sell our stocks now, Russian
oligarchs would be able to buy these on the cheap.”
Norway has long stressed that the sovereign wealth fund is a
non-political, long-term investor, but increasing pressure on the government to
act more forcefully in response to the Ukrainian invasion pushed the government
to act.
“Given how the situation has developed, we consider it
necessary to pull the fund out of Russia,” said Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the
Norwegian finance minister.
The government also said it would allocate up to 2bn kroner
for humanitarian aid to Ukraine and provide military equipment such as helmets
and protective vests. Norway has already given 250mn kroner in humanitarian aid
following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, it said, mainly to the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, the Red Cross and the UN Humanitarian Land Fund.
“Russia’s acts of war lead to great civilian casualties,
destroy basic infrastructure and drive people into exile. We are therefore increasing
our humanitarian aid in connection with the Ukraine crisis,” said Gahr Store.
Norway said that
sanctions would isolate Russia financially “by hitting the central bank and
taking a number of Russian banks out of the Swift payment system”. Norwegian
airspace has also been closed to Russian flights.
https://www.ft.com/content/0b6fab6b-8dcb-4d04-8f6d-2b434dd55c5e#comments-anchor
Norway’s
Massive Sovereign Wealth Fund to Exit Russian Holdings
The world’s largest
sovereign-wealth fund is divesting its Russian holdings.
Norges Bank
Investment Management, the arm of the Norwegian central bank that operates the
$1.3 trillion fund, is freezing investments in Russia, a spokesperson for the
fund said Sunday. The fund will neither buy nor sell shares right away, the
spokesperson said, and will work with the Ministry of Finance to prepare a plan
to divest from the Russian market.
The Norwegian
government on Sunday outlined a raft of measures it is taking to support
Ukraine, including allocating funds for humanitarian aid, joining European
Union sanctions and withdrawing the oil fund from Russian investments. Norway,
a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, will also provide military
equipment to Ukraine.
At the end of last
year, the fund had 27 billion Norwegian kroner, equivalent to $3 billion,
invested in Russian stocks, the spokesperson said, amounting to 0.2% of the
fund’s overall investments.
Its largest stock
investments in Russia included holdings in Russian lender Sberbank, gas
producer Gazprom PJSC and oil major Lukoil.
The fund, which used
to hold around $750 million in Russian government bonds, sold the position in
the past year.
As the world’s largest single shareholder, the
fund owns on average 1.4% of the world’s listed companies, making it a large
investor in companies like Apple Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Its moves
are closely watched by other sovereign-wealth funds and large pools of capital.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-02-26/card/norway-s-massive-sovereign-wealth-fund-to-exit-russian-holdings-WjZEyWVHvGe6XhwOLGCr
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