Norway central bank invests in top SL stocks
Norway’s Central Bank, Norges Bank’s pension fund (Norges Bank Investment Management or NBIM) has shown interest in local high valued shares during the past quarter, results released by firms to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) showed.
This US$960 billion sovereign wealth fund has shown keen interest in CSE shares for the past three years, analysts say.
The fund increased Access Engineering’s stake to 29.1 million shares as at December with T Rowe Price and Tundra Frontier also increasing their holdings in 3Q18, data showed.
The fund entered the top 20 shareholders at Lion Brewery during 3Q18 as the eighth largest shareholder with 1.1 million shares. It entered Nestle Lanka’s top 20 shareholders with 0.82 per cent during 4Q2017, and was the second largest shareholder as at the last quarter. The fund sold 8 million People’s Leasing & Finance PLC shares during 3Q18, but still remains the fifth largest shareholder as at last December.
It’s also the fifth largest shareholder with 3 per cent at Teejay Lanka PLC and the 14th largest shareholder at Sampath Bank with 1.2 per cent. It also owns shares at Melstacorp, Piramal Glass, Dialog etc.
In 2015, the fund invested $31 million in Sri Lanka. NBIM has more than doubled its investment in Sri Lanka to $ 65 million by end of 2016.