Norwegian state pension manager seeks investment mandate extension

Norway's Folketrygdfondet wants to be able to invest in more companies
Kjetil Houg is Folketrygdfondet's | Photo: Foto: CF Wesenberg, Kolonihaven
Kjetil Houg is Folketrygdfondet's | Photo: Foto: CF Wesenberg, Kolonihaven
BY JOHN SELJEHAUG, FINANSWATCH.NO

"There's a requirement that equity shares not entailed by the mandate must be sold immediately. Folketrygdfondet proposes that Folketrygdfondet's board of directors should decide how this takes place," the Norwegian state pension fund writes in a statement.

Folketrygdfondet’s primary job is to manage Norway’s Government Pension Fund Norway (GPFN), which is the domestic and Nordic investment arm Norway's overall sovereign wealth fund along with the much larger Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG).

In a letter to the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Folketrygdfondet suggests expanding the range of companies available as potential investment targets.

Listed companies currently form the basis of Folketrygdfondet's ownership mandate.

Additionally, the firm may invest in companies whose boards have expressed IPO intentions. The country's government has previously said the pension fund's investment target access can be extended to a certain degree, and Folketrygdfondet takes note of this.

In the letter, the fund proposes that its mandate be stretched to also include companies that have applied for a stock listing or are listed on a multilateral trading platform run by a market operator on behalf of standard exchange, for instance, Euronext Growth Oslo.

The investment mandate has a benchmark allocation of 60 percent in equities and 40 percent in fixed income, with 85 percent in Norway and 15 percent in the other Nordic countries.

The capital can be placed in equity instruments taken up to trade in regulated market places in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and in interest bearing instruments where the issuer is resident in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden or has equity capital taken up to trade in regulated market place in those countries.

English Edit: Daniel Frank Christensen

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