The results capped a year in which the world’s biggest wealth fund got the go-ahead to push through a spate of changes, including cutting its fossil-fuel exposure. It also started the search for a new CEO after Slyngstad made clear he wanted to step back.
(Feb 28): Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is not planning to adjust its portfolio in response to a wave of global panic triggered by the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re a fund with a 30-year horizon that takes it easy when things are turbulent,” CEO Yngve Slyngstad said in Oslo on Feb 27. “Of course, we’re still closely monitoring the market fluctuations we’re seeing, and they are considerable these days. But this is a type of risk that’s difficult for us to analyze, and therefore not typically a situation where we go in and act with regards to buying or selling stocks.” Slyngstad made the comments after the US$1.1-trillion ($1.5-trillion) investor unveiled an eye-watering US$180 billion return — its biggest ever — thanks to a rally in global stocks in 2019.
