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4/27/14

Norway Oil Fund Reassessing Risk on Significant Russian Holdings - by Mikael Holter and Saleha Mohsin

Norway’s $850 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, is reviewing risk in Russia, where it has “significant” holdings, Chief Executive Officer Yngve Slyngstad said.

“We observe that there’s a different risk profile,” Slyngstad told reporters in Oslo yesterday, after testifying to lawmakers on the fund’s investment strategy. “We are at any given time also considering conditions that have dimensions of geopolitics and geopolitical risk.”

Russia unexpectedly raised interest rates yesterday as policy makers in Moscow struggle to stop capital flowing out of the country amid western condemnation of a standoff with Ukraine. The rate rise followed a downgrade by Standard & Poor’s, which cut Russia’s credit rating one step to BBB-, one level above junk. S&P cited the tense situation between Russia and Ukraine, which it said could spur significant outflows and “undermine already weakening growth prospects.”

The benchmark Russian Micex index has slid 15 percent this year, while the Ruble is the worst performing currency among developing nations this year after the Argentinian peso.

Norway’s wealth fund held 22 billion kroner ($3.7 billion) in Russian stocks at the end of last year and 25 billion kroner in the country’s corporate and government bonds, according to its annual report.

Read more: Norway Oil Fund Reassessing Risk on Significant Russian Holdings - Bloomberg

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