By Gwladys Fouche
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, said on Thursday it held investments in Russia worth some 27 billion crowns ($3.03 billion) at the end of 2021, equivalent to 0.2% of its total value and down from 30 billion crowns a year earlier.
On Sunday the government said the fund would first freeze and then divest its Russian assets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The fund’s Russian assets consisted of shares in 51 companies, it said on Thursday. The most valuable stakes were in Gazprom, Sberbank and Lukoil, which together accounted for two-thirds of the total.
All the investments were in equities, with 80% of them listed on the Moscow stock exchange, 18% in London and 0.6% in New York, a fund spokesperson told Reuters.
Investing the state’s revenues from oil and gas production and managed by a unit of Norway’s central bank, the fund is one of the world’s largest investors, investing its cash in equities, bonds, real estate and renewable energy projects.
The fund’s value stood at 12.3 trillion Norwegian crowns at the end of 2021, equivalent to $257,000 for every Norwegian man, woman and child.
($1 = 8.8667 Norwegian crowns)
Market value of Norway’s wealth fund – https://graphics.reuters.com/NORWAY-SWF/lgpdwajadvo/chart.png
(Editing by Terje Solsvik)
