Norway’s Real Estate Shift Shuffles Its Leadership

With the sunset of its real estate arm comes a sunrise for Norges Bank’s leadership.

The plans of Norway’s $1 trillion-plus Government Pension Fund Global to consolidate its real estate business into the bank’s investment division became official on April 1, and it wasn’t just the assets that got absorbed—so did its chiefs.

Karsten Kallevig, the subset’s former chief executive officer, has become Norges Bank’s chief investment officer of real estate. He now reports to Yngve Slingstad, the sovereign wealth fund’s head honcho. Per Løken, Romain Veber, and Mie Holstad will still be under Kallevig’s command.

Kallevig has been with the organization since 2010.

Other shifts include Nina Hammerstad, the real estate arm’s former chief operating officer, who will become the fund’s chief people and operations officer on June 1.

One person who will not be staying is Sirine Fostad, who will relinquish her chief human resources officer role on May 31 to become CEO of Grieg Maturitas, part of the Grieg Group holding company.

The fund’s decision to restructure  stems from its goal to whittle its target allocation to real estate, from 7% to between 3% and 5%. It specifically wants to reduce unlisted assets, shifting its focus to listed properties. The fund was criticized by Norway’s Ministry of Finance last year for its unlisted properties, dubbed by critics as “trophy assets,” due to their status as privately held and not traded.

The fund said in February this move would simplify its overall strategy while being cost-effective. It declined to comment further.

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