Biggest Wealth Fund Asked to Assess Impact of Aramco Listing
Biggest Wealth Fund Asked to Assess Impact of Aramco Listing
(Bloomberg) -- After the world’s biggest wealth fund shocked energy markets in November when it proposed cutting oil and gas stocks from its equity index, it now faces a conundrum on how to handle the impending public offering of the world’s largest oil company.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. “will own petroleum resources to a much greater extent than the oil companies currently listed on stock exchanges and will contribute to a higher resource rent risk,” Norway’s Finance Ministry said in a letter to Norges Bank published on Tuesday. It has asked the central bank and the fund to review what impact a listing of Saudi Aramco will have on the fund’s reference index.
Yngve Slyngstad, the head of Norges Bank Investment Management, told Bloomberg on Tuesday that he would consider the Saudi Aramco as any other public offering.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is now the biggest of its kind, hitting a $1 trillion valuation in November.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sveinung Sleire in Oslo at ssleire1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net, Stephen Treloar
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