HELSINKI, Finland-Norway’s National Oil Fund (NOF), capitalized at US$100 billion and the largest of Europe’s state-managed investment funds, has resolved to downgrade investments in telecom and broadband wireless stocks in a bid to improve return on investment in 2003.
Thirty percent of the NOF’s capital was invested in the stocks of global telecom and broadband communication groups in 2002. As a result, the fund suffered its worst-ever performance, watching its capital value plummet by US$18.3 billion in 2002.
The NOF’s primary investment manager, Norges Bank (Central Bank), has decided to review the fund’s investment strategy, a move which could see a significant offloading of telecom stocks on world markets. The NOF has capital invested in the world’s top 30 public telecom groups, including BellSouth, Vodafone Group, France T
