Norway oil fund divests of Israel’s Bezeq over services to West Bank settlements
Summary
- The fund also excluded Evraz over concerns it is supplying steel for Russian weapons.
Norway’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund said it decided to exclude Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq from the fund over concerns the company could be contributing to human-rights violations as it provides services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The decision to divest of the company, announced late Tuesday, followed the fund’s ethics watchdog saying that by providing services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Bezeq was helping facilitate the maintenance and expansion of illegal settlements.
The ethics council said it noted the company also provides telecom services to Palestinian areas in the West Bank, but that this doesn’t outweigh the fact it is also providing services to Israeli settlements.
At the end of June, the fund owned 0.76% of Bezeq’s shares, valued at 252 million Norwegian kroner ($22.8 million).
Bezeq didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fund also decided to exclude mining and steel group Evraz over concerns it is supplying steel for Russian weapons production.
Evraz is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has a major presence in Russia, where it produces steel. The ethics council said Evraz could be linked to the Russian defense industry as a supplier of steel, enabling the country to continue its war against Ukraine.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Norway’s ministry of finance decided that the fund should exit Russia. Evraz is among the companies that were to be divested of, but due to sanctions and operational issues, the fund hadn’t yet been able to sell its stake.
At the close of 2023, the fund owned 0.96% of the company’s shares, valued at almost 44 million kroner.
Trading in the company’s shares has been suspended since March 2022.
Evraz didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the fund said it had decided to end its observation of Hyundai Engineering & Construction after the company implemented an anti-corruption system.
The South Korean construction company was placed under observation in July 2021 over concerns it had contributed to or been responsible for corruption. Following new systems being put in place, the ethics council said that risk is no longer considered unacceptable.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com
