Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has announced that it has divested all its shares from Paz Retail and Energy (TASE: PAZ) because, “The company owns and operates infrastructure supplying fuel to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.” According to its most recent report, the fund held a 0.5% stake in Paz worth $7 million.
The Norwegian fund announced late last year that it was diverting its investments from Bezeq Israel Telecommunication Corp. (TASE: BEZQ), on similar grounds, because the company is involved in providing communications infrastructure services to settlements. The fund is facing great pressure from the Norwegian public, as well as from labor and civil society organizations in the country, to divert its investments from more and more Israeli companies, due to, among other things, the war in Gaza.
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The Norwegian wealth fund manages about assets worth $1.8 trillion, and it is run according to the recommendations of an ethics committee, which disallows investments in conflict zones, certain defense companies and companies related to nuclear energy, and includes ethical considerations in its investment portfolio. In the past, it halted its investments in Israeli defense companies, as well as infrastructure and engineering companies that worked in the territories. The fund holds shares in about 65 Israeli companies, worth close to $2.2 billion, according to its latest report.
In response to public pressure, which has been expressed, among other things, in the call in recent days by the large Norwegian labor organization (LO) to boycott additional companies in Israel, the fund announced the move yesterday. It is part of the committee’s “toughening of the criteria” on Israel, which was also reflected in the disinvestment of Bezeq shares. In recent days, the Norwegian labor organization re-adopted a resolution initially passed in 2018, calling for an economic, commercial and academic boycott of Israel. The organization supported the decision with a public letter to the wealth fund, demanding that it remove more Israeli companies from its portfolio.
Previously, it was reported that the fund had held an internal discussion on whether to continue holding shares in Israeli banks and financial institutions, but ultimately decided to maintain the investment, as well as investments in large Israeli companies such as Teva, Nice and ICL.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 12, 2025.
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