The Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund is in the process of opening an investment office in London. “We hope to be up and running very soon,” says Yngve Slyngstad, head of equities, at the E33bn fund’s Oslo office.
“The reason for the office, to a large extent, is to play a part in the developing internal active sector management,” he says. The fund has seen its internal management side grow from 8% to 28% of the equity portfolio in 1999 and it being further increased this year (see page 32).
“We need a presence in London, firstly for recruitment – Oslo is not the centre of the investment world. In the long term we need to ensure that our organisation has the number and quality of managers that its size requires,” says Slyngstad.
In addition to its Oslo HQ, the fund has had a fixed income team at the New York office of the Norges Bank, the country’s central bank. Much of the administrative back office is handled in Edinburgh.