NORWEGIAN PENSION FUND INVESTS IN 145 LOCAL FIRMS
Genting Malaysia, MR DIY and Top Glove among companies in its portfolio
NORWAY’S Government Pension Fund Global, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has invested in 145 Malaysian listed companies as at Dec 31.
They include Genting Malaysia Bhd, MR DIY Group (M) Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd, according to the latest updates by the Norwegian central bank’s asset management unit.
Norges Bank Investment Management is the asset management unit of the Norwegian central bank, Norges Bank. It has been tasked to manage the pension fund, often referred to as Norway’s oil fund.
Norges Bank Investment said the fund owned a 0.7 per cent stake or US$26.35 million in Genting Malaysia and a 0.26 per cent stake in MR DIY worth US$12.83 million as at Dec 31.
The fund held a 0.89 per cent stake in Top Glove worth US$108.68 million, it added.
Its Malaysia-listed equity portfolio includes a 0.35 per cent stake in Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, 0.74 per cent in Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, 0.86 per cent stake in Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd and 2.59 per cent in Bursa Malaysia Bhd.
Norges Bank Investment said the investments were spread across most markets, countries and currencies to achieve a broad exposure to global growth and value creation.
Overall, it said the fund had invested in 9,123 companies at
the end of last year, down from 9,202 the previous year.
It had holdings of more than two per cent in 1,278 companies, and more than five per cent in 40 companies.
“Our investment strategies aim to exploit the fund’s characteristics as a large, global investor with limited short-term liquidity requirements to achieve a high return with acceptable risk.
“The fund’s investment strategies fall into three main strategies — fund allocation, security selection and asset management,”
it said.
The Government Pension Fund Global had a market value of US$1.28 billion at the end of last year.
“The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 led to demanding working conditions and large and sudden movements in financial markets.
“The investments in the Government Pension Fund Global nevertheless returned 10.9 per cent last year, which is 0.27 percentage points more than the return on the benchmark index the fund is measured against.”