Norway’s US$1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund is merging its real assets and equity investment divisions into a single unit that’s been renamed active strategies, with the goal of becoming a world leader in energy investing.
The unit will be led by Daniel Balthasar and Pedro Furtado Reis, the co-chief investment officers for equities. The change is effective January 1 next year.
According to Norges Bank Investment Management, the move is to bolster management of both asset classes by bringing together people with complementary expertise, and also “bring our energy investors together into a more complete team that covers both listed and unlisted renewable infrastructure opportunities in this sector”.
“The ambition for this combined unit is to enable us to become a global leader in energy investing,” the world’s largest wealth fund says in a statement on November 18.
It says merging the two divisions won’t affect investment strategy across any of the asset classes. “We will remain an active real estate investor and continue to buy assets when they are attractively priced and in-line with our strategy.”