Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, announced on Monday it has sold its investments in 11 Israeli companies and was terminating all contracts with asset managers handling its portfolio in the country over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
The announcement follows an urgent review launched last week following media reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets.
"All investments in Israeli companies that have been managed by external managers will be moved in-house and managed internally," the fund said.
Nicolai Tangen, chief of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund, said the decision was taken "in response to extraordinary circumstances."
"The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened," Tangen said in a statement.
Norway's wealth fund, also known as the oil fund as it is fuelled by vast revenue from the country's energy exports, is the biggest in the world with a value of around $1.9 trillion, with investments spanning the globe.
Last week, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported that the fund had invested in Israeli Bet Shemesh Engines Holdings, which makes parts for engines used in Israeli fighter jets.
Tangen later confirmed the reports and said the fund had increased its stake after the Israeli offensive in Gaza began.
The revelations led Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to ask Finance Minister and former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for a review.
NBIM said it had investments in 61 Israeli companies at the end of the first six months of this year, 11 of which were not in its "equity benchmark index" – which is set by the Finance Ministry and used to gauge the wealth fund's performance.
"We have now completely sold out of these positions," the fund said, adding that it continued to review Israeli companies for potential divestments. The review will also lead to improved due diligence, it added.
"The fund's investments in Israel will now be limited to companies that are in the equity benchmark index. However, we will not be invested in all Israeli companies in the index," it said.
The fund also said that it had "long paid particular attention to companies associated with war and conflict."
"Since 2020, we have been in contact with more than 60 companies to raise this issue. Of these, 39 dialogues were related to the West Bank and Gaza," NBIM said.
It said that monitoring of Israeli companies had been intensified in the autumn of 2024, and that "as a result, we have sold our investments in several Israeli companies."
In the last year, the fund sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecoms group over ethics concerns, and its ethics watchdog has said it is reviewing whether to divest holdings in five banks.
Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
