+972 reports:

In 1990, Norway established the Oil Fund, a long-term investment vehicle to manage the country’s growing oil and gas revenues. Formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global, its primary aims were to safeguard these revenues for future generations and to protect the Norwegian economy, increasingly reliant on oil, from global market volatility.

Managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) with operational independence under the central bank, the Oil Fund invests globally in equities, real estate, government bonds, and renewable energy infrastructure. And since its first deposit in 1996, it has grown substantially to become the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, with a market value of almost 20 trillion kroner ($1.95 trillion).

The Fund holds significant stakes in some of the world’s largest companies, with its most significant investments by value in Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Its portfolio is broadly diversified and designed to mirror the global stock market: currently, the Fund is invested in 8,559 companies and owns around 1.5 percent of all publicly listed shares worldwide.

It is also Europe’s largest investor in companies complicit in the economic maintenance and facilitation of Israel’s occupation and genocide in Palestine.

Norway entered 2023 with investments worth around 13 billion kroner ($1.26 billion) in Israeli companies. As the Israeli war effort accelerated, the value of Norway’s investments increased dramatically: by the end of 2024, the Scandinavian state had more than 22 billion kroner ($2.1 billion) invested in Israeli companies. [Continue reading…]