Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Monday it is terminating contracts with asset managers handling its Israeli investments and has divested parts of its portfolio in the country over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
The announcement follows an urgent review launched last week following media 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.
"All investments in Israeli companies that have been managed by external managers will be moved in-house and managed internally," the fund said.
The fund, an arm of Norway's central bank, which held stakes in 61 Israeli companies as of 30 June, in recent days divested stakes in 11 of these, it said in a statement, without naming the groups.
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 a deadline of 20 August.
"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 review will also lead to improved due diligence, it added.
"The fund's investments in Israel will now be limited to companies that are in the equity benchmark index. However, we will not be invested in all Israeli companies in the index," it said.
The fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95 billion, its records show.
In the last year it sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecoms group over ethics concerns, and its ethics watchdog has said it is reviewing whether to divest holdings in five banks.
Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Saudi Arabia’s air defences have intercepted and destroyed a hostile drone over the Riyadh region, according to the Saudi-led coalition fight...
Police were deployed across Paris on Saturday, as a curfew was set to take effect in the Republique and Chât...
A drone strike hit a power station in northern Sudan early Sunday (1 November), sparking a fire and triggering loud explosions, witnesses said....
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical limits in statements posted to social media platforms on Saturday (31 October).
Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags and placards supporting the hijab gathered outside the Azerbaijani Embassy in London.
A Chinese-made AI chip has matched Nvidia’s H200 in tests conducted by its developer, marking a potential breakthrough in China’s efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign technology.
A hacking group linked to North Korea is widely believed to be behind the theft of $6.3 billion from cryptocurrency giant Binance, a cyberattack that experts describe as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
Cryptocurrencies are volatile, and their crashes make headlines. But does a slump in digital coins ever spill over into the pounds, dollars and euros in people's bank accounts? The short answer is not directly, but indirectly it can, and regulators are increasingly worried about how.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised record trade with Egypt as Moscow seeks to use its economic ties with Cairo to expand its influence across Africa, with a focus on manufacturing, infrastructure and energy.
Kazakhstan could begin building its first nuclear power plant in 2027, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on 28 October, according to Azertac. But as Central Asia steps up its energy ambitions, which countries are investing in nuclear power and which are pursuing alternatives?
Apple's latest iPhone 18 Pro series has outperformed its predecessor in early global sales, even as rising manufacturing costs and weaker demand in some markets put pressure on the smartphone industry, according to Counterpoint Research data released on Tuesday (27 October).
Uzbekistan is moving into a new phase in the development of Islamic finance, with the country’s first Islamic banking licence issued shortly before a regional forum in Samarkand brought together industry players to discuss how the sector can expand across Central Asia.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment