# Norway wealth fund to consider investing in unlisted equities
Author:  Pal Sinha, Barnali 
Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali
Published: 2023-03-31
Category: INVESTING
Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/investing
Meta Title: Norway Wealth Fund Considers Investing in Unlisted Equities
Meta Description: Norway's sovereign wealth fund, one of the world's largest, explores new asset class potential for growth and value creation.
URL: https://financedigest.com/norway-wealth-fund-to-consider-investing-in-unlisted-equitieshtml

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By Victoria Klesty

OSLO (Reuters) -Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, should assess whether to begin investing in unlisted equities, the finance ministry said on Friday, which would be a brand new asset class for the fund.

The fund pools the Norwegian state’s revenues from oil and gas production and invests them abroad in stocks, bonds, property and renewable energy projects.

Managed by a unit of the central bank, it is [invested in more than 9,200 companies globally](https://www.financedigest.com/international-investment-soars-as-albania-steps-into-global-spotlight.html "INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT SOARS AS ALBANIA STEPS INTO GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT") and owns on average 1.5% of all the world’s listed stocks.

The [bank is asked to assess the different aspects of unlisted stocks to form the basis for the ministry’s assessment of this question,” the finance](https://www.financedigest.com/tomorrows-finance-the-latest-innovations-in-open-banking.html "Tomorrow’s Finance: The Latest Innovations in Open Banking") ministry said in its annual recommendation to parliament.

A decision on whether to do so is ultimately up to the country’s government and parliament. It could be presented to parliament [next year](https://www.financedigest.com/1-in-10-workers-considering-a-career-change-in-the-next-year.html "1 in 10 workers considering a career change in the next year"), Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum told Reuters.

Successive Norwegian governments had refrained from such a move until now, due to the risk the [fund could be stuck with an investment](https://www.financedigest.com/plastic-antibody-developer-strengthens-board-following-further-investment-from-mercia-fund-management.html "“Plastic antibody” developer strengthens board following further investment from Mercia Fund Management") it could not divest.

Asked whether this could increase the fund’s [exposure to risk](https://www.financedigest.com/preventing-an-operationally-crippling-ransomware-attack-do-you-know-where-your-risk-exposure-lies.html "PREVENTING AN OPERATIONALLY CRIPPLING RANSOMWARE ATTACK –  DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR RISK EXPOSURE LIES?"), Vedum said that would be one of the questions to be examined.

The [advantage of listed shares is that they are more liquid](https://www.financedigest.com/liquidity-to-take-advantage-of-volatility-says-heartwood.html "Liquidity to take advantage of volatility says Heartwood"). But when we open for this now, it’s just because we want to have a thorough evaluation of that,” Vedum told Reuters.

The [fund is positive to investing in unlisted equity](https://www.financedigest.com/uk-investors-add-1-2-billion-to-equity-funds-in-march-calastone.html "UK investors add .2 billion to equity funds in March – Calastone"), saying in a Jan. 6 letter to the ministry it was “seeing more and more indications that a larger share of value creation is taking [place in the unlisted market”](https://www.financedigest.com/concrete-placing-booms-market-notable-developments-geographical-outlook.html "Concrete Placing Booms Market: Notable Developments & Geographical Outlook").

In that letter it said that an [expert group](https://www.financedigest.com/james-trainor-top-fbi-cyber-expert-joins-aons-cyber-solutions-group.html "James Trainor, top FBI cyber expert, joins Aon’s Cyber Solutions Group") appointed by the finance ministry in 2017 estimated that the unlisted market was 5% of the size of the listed market.

The Bank’s updated [estimates suggest that this figure is now around](https://www.financedigest.com/tantalum-carbide-coating-for-graphite-market-is-estimated-to-expand-at-a-healthy-cagr-of-around-5-over-the-forecast-period-of-2021-2031.html "Tantalum Carbide Coating For Graphite Market is estimated to expand at a healthy CAGR of around 5% over the forecast period of 2021-2031") 8%,” it said then.

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, additional reporting by Terje Solsvik, writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)


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