OSLO, Aug 26 (NNN-XINHUA) – Norway’s wealth fund, yesterday named six companies it has excluded from its portfolio, citing an “unacceptable risk” that the firms contribute to serious violations of individual rights in situations of war and conflict.
The excluded firms are Israeli and U.S. companies, Norges Bank Investment Management, which oversees the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, said in a press release.
They are First International Bank of Israel Ltd, the holding company FIBI Holdings Ltd, Bank Leumi Le-Israel BM, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd, Bank Hapoalim BM, and Caterpillar Inc.
The decision follows recommendations from the Council on Ethics, dated June 25 and July 2.
Last week, the bank’s executive board decided to exclude six companies following an ethics review of operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
In a statement dated Aug 11, Norges Bank Investment Management said, it has sold 11 companies that were outside the fund’s equity benchmark index, and “for the time being” will refrain from investing in Israeli companies outside that index.
The fund launched an urgent review earlier this month, after reports found that it had invested in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel’s armed forces.
Critics said, the fund could only avoid potential ethical breaches by fully divesting from Israeli companies.– NNN-XINHUA
