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Norway's USD 870 Billion oil fund shows who's boss
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Norway's oil fund must be making company boards feel just a little bit more nervous. From next year the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is planning to publish how it will vote at annual meetings. It says the move will increase transparency and strengthen the vote execution chain. Excessive fat cat pay packets are already in its sights. It comes as Norway reports July CPI at +0.6 percent - much better than economists predicted.
So what do we know about the Oil Fund? Here are five facts:
1) Officially called the Government Pension Fund Global, it’s worth around a staggering USD 870 billion and is expected to be worth more than USD 1.1 trillion by 2020.
2) The Fund was officially set up in 1990 and is managed by Norges Bank Investment Management part of Norway’s Central Bank.
3) It invests in 8,000 companies across 82 countries – 60 percent in equities, 35 percent in fixed income and 5 percent in real estate.
4) Its largest equity investments are in: Nestle, Royal Dutch Shell, Novartis, HSBC Holdings and Vodafone.
5) The Oil fund has strong ethical guidelines and won’t invest in numerous companies including British American Tobacco, Wal-Mart for alleged human rights violations and Rio Tinto due to fears of environmental damage.