Norway Wealth Fund to declare steps to Israeli investments, but not the flat -rate sale
Oslo (Reuters) – Norway’s 2 trillion US dollars of sovereign asset fund will announce changes to the treatment of his Israeli investments next week, finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday and excludes any retreat in Gaza.
The government said on Tuesday that it had launched an urgent review of the fund’s investments in the ethics problems in connection with the war in Gaza and the Israeli military rule of West Bank.
“I see several measures over time, but what can be addressed quickly has to be carried out quickly,” Stoltenberg told a press conference after having held his second meeting with fund officials in three days.
He did not say what these measures could look like, but added that there would be no wholesale from all Israeli companies. “If we did that, it would mean that we sell them from them because they are Israeli,” he said.
The review was followed by the local news that the fund had built up a participation in an Israeli Jet -Engine group, Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd., which offers the Israel forces, including maintaining fighter aircraft, services that create a political debate in Nordic Land before the elections on September 8.
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On Wednesday, the fund’s ethics wax dog, which checks whether the fund’s investments respect the ethical guidelines defined by the parliament, recognized that he has considered Bet -Hemesh engines for a possible sale. Bet Shemesh did not respond to inquiries about comments.
Use of external managers under control
Stoltenberg said that a question between the Ministry of Finance and the fund was the use of external portfolio managers for some of his stocks. He said Bet Shemesh was treated by an external manager that he did not name.
The fund stated that they use three Israeli external fund managers for some of its investments in the country.
The fund, which is one in 8,700 companies worldwide, held at 65 Israeli companies worth 1.95 billion US dollars at the end of 2024, as its records prove.
It sold its missions in an Israeli energy company and a telecommunications group last year, and its ethics wax dog has stated that it checked whether the participations should be sold to five banks.
Pro-Israel, Pro-Palestinian activists, said that this was not sufficient and have requested a nationwide sale by the fund. The Norway Parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to separate from all companies with activities in West Bank and Gaza.
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