(February 24, 2014) — Norway’s Government Pension Fund-Global has revealed plans to double its equities investment team to almost 200 people.
The $840 billion fund is already the world’s largest equities investor, and has told the Financial Times that it plans to increase its staffing capability to eke out better returns.
Petter Johnsen, CIO for equities at the fund, told the newspaper its current team of around 85 to 90 people needed to be double its current size so it was “recruiting actively”.
In an interview with aiCIO in June 2012, Johnsen said around 95% of the fund’s assets were managed internally by Norges Bank Investment Management. “This share has been growing as we are building up the team,” said Johnsen. “It takes time to build up internal competence—moving in-house is a greater responsibility, but it means we have a closer relationship with the companies in which we invest.”
A focus on cost efficiency is one reason the sovereign wealth fund manages so much internally, according to Johnsen. “We can also attract people to work for us. Around half of the sector strategies group is employed in our international office in London. We also have offices in New York, Shanghai, and Singapore, which allows us to have access to the companies in which we invest and to industry experts. We do more than 2,000 meetings a year.”
The SWF has come under pressure by domestic politicians to increase the diversification of its portfolio. The fund has bought swathes of European real estate and entered into a partnership with Prologis to expand its property assets in the US.
It has also faced calls to be broken in to smaller, nimbler investment funds, but so far no firm action has been taken by the Norwegian Government on this issue.
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