NORWAY - The Norwegian Ministry of Finance is seeking a consultant to evaluate and monitor the performance of the NOK 2.084trn (€262bn) Government Pension Fund - Global.

The sovereign wealth fund (SWF), a continuation of the former Government Petroleum Fund, is run by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) and invests around NOK 1.054trn in overseas fixed income investments, and NOK 878bn in overseas equities, according to figures to the end of September 2007.

However, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance is now tendering a consultancy contract, for a minimum of three months, to prepare performance measurement and evaluation reports for the pension fund.

The government revealed the purpose of the contract is to "verify the asset manager's - Norges Bank - internal performance measurements and to strengthen the Ministry's basis for evaluating the performance of the fund".

In addition, the tender, valued at between NOK 2-4m, noted if the pension fund should decide to invest in real estate the government would have the option to extend the consultancy contract to include analysis on real estate as well as fixed income and equities.

The tender, which closes to applicants on March 23 2008, follows recent research on 32 state-run funds by a US think-tank, the Peterson Institute, which marked the pension fund down on its transparency after it highlighted the SWF was not subject to a fully independent audit. (See earlier IPE.com story: Norwegian fund rated second best)

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Nyree Stewart on + 44 (0)20 7261 4618 or email nyree.stewart@ipe.com


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