Norway owns shares in sanctioned Russian banks
Government’s Pension Fund Global has bond investments worth NOK 89 million and owns shares worth NOK 1,13bn in Sberbank and NOK 2bn in VTB Bank.
It can look like a paradox; sanctioning the Russian banks with one hand, but keep shares in the same banks with the other. For Norway, that is currently what’s happening.
The Government’s Pension Fund Global, currently worth over 7.000 billion Norwegian kroner (€796 billion), have invested 32.095 million kroner in Russia, mainly in oil- and gas and the banking sector. That is also the two sectors, in addition to the military industrial complex, that are highlighted in the EU and US sanctions regime against Moscow.
The Norwegian regulations on restrictive measures imposed from August 15th, 2014, lists five Russian banks, including the two in which the Norwegian fund owns shares; VTB Bank and Sberbank. In Sberbank, the fund also holds bond investments worth nearly 90 million kroner. That investment was made last year.
The Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv has made a comprehensive data-journalistic overview of all shares and bond investments the fund has world-wide.
By year-end 2014, the fund owned 0,69 percent of the shares in Sberbank worth 1,13 billion kroner. The fund owns 1,78 percent of the shares in VTB Bank worth just over 2 billion kroner, according to the overview from Dagens Næringsliv.
In the oil- and gas sector, the fund’s investments are much higher than in the Russian banking sector. The fund owned 0,56 percent of Gazprom, worth 2,3 billion kroner. Gazprom is the world’s largest natural gas producer and Russia’s largest stock-listed company.
The fund also owns shares in Lukoil, Surgutneftegas, Novatek and Tatneft, all with production on the Arctic tundra or in Siberia.
It is the Central Bank of Norway that manages the investment fund. After Norway joined the last round of sanctions in August last year, the Ministry of Finance told the newspaper Bergens Tidene that the fund follows the laws and regulations in the markets it is invested in and will do needed adjustments regarding the sanctions on Russia, if the fund’s investments are influenced.
