Norway wealth fund terminates Israel asset management contracts

Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund has said that it is terminating all contracts with asset managers handling its Israeli investments.

It has also divested parts of its portfolio in the country over Israeli actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The decision follows an urgent review launched last week, following media reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that aided Israel's army, providing services 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.

The fund is an arm of Norway's central bank. As of 30 June, it held stakes in 61 Israeli companies, but in recent days it has divested stakes in 11 of these, it said in a statement, without naming the groups.

"We have now completely sold out of these positions," the fund said, adding that it continued to review Israeli companies for potential divestments.

"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, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95bn, its records show.

Reporting by Reuters