Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said Monday that it was selling off its stakes in some Israeli companies and terminating all contracts with Israeli asset managers handling investments over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
“We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence,” the fund’s CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement.
Norges Bank Investment Management, the body managing the fund, said it is divesting itself of 11 Israeli companies, out of 61, which are not included in an equity benchmark index created by Norway’s Finance Ministry.
The fund said the 11 were excluded “due to unacceptable risk of contribution to serious norm violations associated with business operations in the West Bank.”
Going forward, “the fund’s investments in Israel will now be limited to companies that are in the equity benchmark index,” it said.
The statement noted that it has raised issues with 39 companies since 2020 over concerns pertaining to the West Bank and Gaza, marking the majority of its due diligence related to conflicts around the globe.
It said that monitoring Israeli companies was intensified in the autumn of 2024, and that, “as a result, we have sold our investments in several Israeli companies.”
NBIM also said that all investments in Israeli companies managed by external managers would be moved in-house, and that it was “terminating contracts with external managers in Israel.”
In addition, NBIM said Norway’s Finance Ministry had asked it to review “its investments in Israeli companies, and to propose new measures that it deems necessary.”
It said it initiated the review and would present its findings before an August 20 deadline.
Norway’s wealth fund, also known as the oil fund, as it is fueled by vast revenue from the country’s energy exports, is the largest in the world with a value of around $1.9 trillion, with investments spanning the globe.
Last week, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported that the fund had invested in Israeli Bet Shemesh Engines Holdings, which makes parts for engines used in Israeli fighter jets.
Tangen later confirmed the reports and said the fund had increased its stake after the Israeli offensive in Gaza began, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre of southern communities.
The revelations led Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to ask Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg for a review.
Speaking at a press conference later Monday, Stoltenberg said he was glad Norges Bank had “acted quickly.”
“The fund’s ethical guidelines stipulate that it shall not invest in companies that contribute to violations of international law by states,” he told reporters.
“Therefore, the pension fund should not hold shares in companies that contribute to Israel’s warfare in Gaza or the occupation of the West Bank,” he said.
In the last year, the fund 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 West Bank and Gaza.
Also on Monday, Norwegian pension fund KLP said it had excluded Israeli company NextVision Stabilized Systems “from its investments because the company supplies key components for military drones used in the war in Gaza.”