(October 28, 2013) — Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive officer of Norges Bank Investment Management and aiCIO power 100 member, has ceased allocating investment to European equities.
Speaking at a Norwegian press conference, the sovereign wealth fund investor said he was preparing for a stock market correction.
“Our share in the stock market has been stable or falling even though markets are rising, and that means in practice that we’re not using inflows to buy stocks,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
“In general, we see market corrections more as opportunities than as threats, so it’s not something that worries us. If they come, that’s just a positive sign for us as an investor.”
The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund had benefitted from the recent equities rally in Europe. A surge in stock values added 7.6% to the fund’s equity portfolio last quarter, helping the $810 billion fund to post a 5% overall return in the third quarter— a DK228 billion ($39 billion) gain.
The fund currently holds 63.6% in equities, 35.5% in bonds, and 0.9% in real estate.
“If you’re not buying equities these days, we’re buying bonds or just hold this as cash,” Slyngstad told Bloomberg. “We would of course like to invest more of it in the real estate market but that takes longer. As long as there are strong markets we don’t see any urge to increase our equity holdings.”
While European equities are off the menu for now, it appears Slyngstad is one of the believers of China’s continuing growth story.
The fund is seeking permission from Norwegian authorities to increase its investment in Chinese funds from $1 billion to $1.5 billion. can invest up to $1.5 billion in China after authorities increased its investment quota from $1 billion, the fund’s chief executive told Reuters on Friday.
“We have applied for a bigger quota (than $1.5 billion) but we have not been able to receive it. We want to invest considerably more in the Chinese market,” Slyngstad told Reuters.
Slyngstad was named the 9th most influential investo in the aiCIO Power 100 this year. Read his profile here.
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