Norway has always said its sovereign wealth fund belongs to the people. But recently, that’s needed a bit of clarification.
Since hitting a record 10 trillion kroner ($1.1 trillion) last month, the fund has noticed an uptick in inquiries from Norwegians wondering whether they can now withdraw their share. Requests range from people asking for their full pro-rata stake — which, given Norway’s population of about 5.3 million, comes to more than $200,000 per person — to less serious pleas for a few coins to buy a can of soda.
“It’s nice that people get involved and are aware that this fund belongs to everyone,” said Marthe Skaar, a spokeswoman for Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the fund from Oslo.
Though some Norwegians may be disappointed to learn they can’t make withdrawals, Skaar says the sudden spike in public interest in the fund represents a good opportunity to explain it’s also supposed to benefit future generations. She said that such requests are nothing new and the fund doesn’t keep a precise tally, although there had been an “upswing” after the valuation milestone.
The Government Pension Fund Global, as it is officially known, isn’t really a pension fund. Its purpose is to ensure that Norway keeps profiting from its oil wealth long after the fossil-fuel era ends. It only invests outside Norway, to avoid overheating the domestic economy.
Fiscal Stimulus
The government also spends some of its oil wealth on present-day Norwegians. After a drop in crude prices, it was forced to tap the fund to pad its budget in a rare example of fiscal stimulus in Europe.
A lot of oil-producing countries have set up wealth funds, but Norway’s remains a unique experiment in natural-resource wealth management. The fund’s mandate is anchored in Parliament, and has evolved over time with ethical restrictions on tobacco, certain weapons and most coal producers.
Norway’s wealth fund holds roughly 1.5% of the world’s listed equities. The past decade has seen a steep increase in its value, after a buying spree on cheap stocks during the financial crisis resulted in a quadrupling of its size since 2008. More than half the investor’s value is from its returns.
Source: Bloomberg
Can’t stop reading? Read more
KKR Mulls $1.7tn Japan Credit Push
With Japan already the destination for about 40% of its investment activity in Asia, private investment major KKR & Co is now weighing up a move into the country’s private credit market, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report quotes Hiro Hirano, Head of...
Apollo to lead $11bn investment in Intel’s Irish chip plant
Funds managed by private investment firm Apollo Global Management are to lead an investment of $11bn to acquire a 49% equity interest in a joint venture entity related to Intel’s Fab 34 chip manufacturing facility in Leixlip, Ireland. The deal represents Intel’s...
Singapore tops Southeast Asia in private capital investment with $3.7bn
Singapore led Southeast Asia in private capital investment last year, with US$3.7bn secured, comprising 41.1% of the region’s private equity deal value in 2023, a new report has found. Singapore also topped the region in transaction volume, completing 62 out of the...