Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which is pivotal to the global financial market, invested 736 Chinese companies, such as Ali $6.5 billion, Tencent $5.8 billion, Meitu $1.9 billion, etc. (Cut from the official website of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund)
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is said to be investigating its investments in companies involved in forced labor in Xinjiang, and is expected to publish the results in the first half of this year. The Norwegian parliament has banned the sovereign fund from investing in economic entities that violate human rights. The sovereign fund’s website shows that it holds 736 Chinese companies with a total of $49 billion in marketable securities.
Financial circles believe that this message reveals that Norway’s sovereign fund may gradually reduce its investment in Chinese companies to avoid the risks caused by future U.S. and European sanctions.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest of its kind in the world at $1.3 trillion, and has a significant influence on the market. The fund holds shares in 9,100 listed companies worldwide, accounting for 1.5% of the world’s listed companies. The fund is required to operate under a code of ethics set by the Norwegian parliament.
Reuters reported that Johan H. Andresen, chairman of the fund’s ethics committee, said they have begun investigating companies involved in the use of forced labor in Xinjiang.
According to the Norwegian sovereign fund’s website, it has increased its investments in Chinese companies by as much as $130 a year for the past two or three years. By the end of 2020, it held 736 Chinese companies with marketable securities worth about $49 billion, of which those with a large share include Alibaba’s $6.5 billion, Tencent’s $5.8 billion, Meitu’s $1.9 billion, Ping An Insurance’s $1.25 billion and Jingdong’s $1.1 billion.
If the survey includes Hong Kong companies, another 169 companies with about US$10 billion of investment volume will be affected.
Anderson gave an interview to Reuters before the release of the commission’s annual report on March 10. He mentioned that the commission is concerned that some of the companies in which the fund invests may be involved in this type of labor rehabilitation labor and that it may be a common practice.
He expects to present a recommendation report on the findings in the first half of this year and submit it to the Norges Bank’s Board of Governors for a final decision.
Norwegian parliamentary legislation prohibits investments by sovereign funds in companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons, landmines or tobacco, or in human rights abuses.
Reuters reported that the fund would not publish the list of companies whose shares were divested before selling them off, to avoid the share price falling first. The news comes as financial sources estimate that the Norwegian sovereign fund may gradually withdraw its investments in Chinese companies, mainly to avoid losses due to moral hazard.
U.N. experts and human rights groups have repeatedly denounced the fact that more than 1 million people have been reeducated through labor in Xinjiang in recent years, and have revealed that complexes established in the region provide “vocational training.
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