Folketrygdfondet, the manager of Norway’s domestic and Nordic sovereign wealth fund, has announced the first three manager hires for its brand new Tromsø investment unit in the Arctic Circle. The unit is set to make its first investment soon.
The Oslo-based institution, which manages the NOK384bn (€32.8bn) Government Pension Fund Norway (GPFN) – the smaller counterpart to the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) – gained parliamentary approval last June for the establishment of the unit, which is seen as a way to expand state presence in Norway’s Northern region.
Ulf Nore, Tonje Roti and Ola Oppegaard have been appointed to work at Folketrydfondet’s new unit located in Tromsø’s Mack quarter from 15 April.
Kjetil Houg, Folketrygdfondet’s chief executive officer, said he was proud and happy to present the institution’s first employees in Tromsø.
“We have had many strong applicants from Norway and abroad, and great interest in the fund,” he said in an earlier announcement.
Roti is the only one of the three already living in Tromsø, having worked for eight years at PwC and Nord Kapitalforvaltning in her hometown.
She said: “I know Tromsø very well and am very much looking forward to becoming part of Folketrygdfondet. For me, it will be a short move, since Folketrygdfondet is moving into the same office building as PwC.”
From Bergen, Nore has 12 years of experience working in London, and joins Folketrygdfondet from IQON Capital.
“The combination of Folketrygdfondet and establishing a fund from scratch is something I look forward to being a part of. It is also exciting to move back to Norway and establish myself in Tromsø,” he said.
Meanwhile Oppegaard, from Oslo, has worked at Folketrygdfondet for three years, having worked his way up to analyst from trainee.
Houg said the three managers had presented exciting ideas on how the institution could solve the mandate and deliver the highest possible return on the assignment it had been given.
“We will continue recruiting for the Tromsø team and hope to make the first investment soon,” he said.
The Tromsø unit is being tasked with investing up to NOK15bn in smaller listed companies in the Nordic region in the unit’s first phase – a limit which may increase to NOK30bn after some experience has been gained.
Its benchmark index is a market-weighted Nordic index for smaller listed companies with a total market value of approximately NOK1.5trn, adjusted for free float, as well as for companies already included in the GPFN benchmark index.
Swedish companies account for approximately half of the investment universe, followed by Danish firms at 22%, Finnish at 13%, Norwegian at 9% and Icelandic companies with a 6% share.
The three largest sectors will be industrial, health and finance, making up 27%, 25% and 21% of the universe, respectively.
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Rachel is IPE's Nordic correspondent.
She has long been a freelance writer, and over the years, has written for The Telegraph, The Independent, The Observer, AMWatch and elsewhere.
In 2001, Rachel's personal finance book Kickstart Your Money was published by John Wiley & Sons.View full Profile
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