OSLO: Norway's US$1.15 trillion sovereign wealth fund should shift more assets into the United States and Canada, while cutting its holdings in Europe, the country's minority government said on Monday.
The proposal to parliament follows an earlier recommendation by the Norwegian central bank, the fund's manager, which could ultimately move more than US$100 billion into U.S. stocks."The changes we are proposing will ensure the investments better represent the distribution of value creation in listed companies globally," Minister of Finance Jan Tore Sanner said in a statement.
The world's largest sovereign fund has historically given a higher weighting in its portfolio to European stock markets, focusing on countries that Norway does the most trade with, and a lower weighting to those of North America. While the fund currently owns about 1.5per cent of all stocks globally, its ownership in Europe amounts to 2.6per cent of all listed shares while its holdings in the Americas is only just over 1per cent.
The central bank last year recommended a move to neutral weights, arguing this would better reflect the available pool of investments and boost long-term returns, although a realignment would take years to complete.