Norway's Oil Fund Takes France's Alstom Off Ethics Risk List

 

The fund said Alstom joined the list in 2011, when Norway's finance ministry decided to put the French company under observation based on an assessment of risk of gross corruption in its operations.

 

The observation period was set for four years. The ministry asked the fund's ethics council to observe the company and follow developments in its anti-corruption efforts.

 

The Norwegian central bank, which supervises the sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday that it had decided to end the observation of the French company on advice from the fund's ethics council.

 

"The council on ethics notes that the risk of future corruption in the company is reduced and the risk now is probably not higher than in other comparable companies," the fund said in a statement.

 

"Norges Bank has therefore decided to end the observation of Alstom SA."

 

Alstom was not immediately available for comment.

 

NBIM is currently the tenth-biggest investor in Alstom, with a 1.18-percent stake worth 100 million euros ($109.42 million), according to Thomson Reuters data.

 

The fund can move companies on its ethics observation list to its exclusion list, which means the fund's holdings in those companies will be sold.

 

The fund has excluded 64 companies so far for ethical reasons and, following Tuesday's announcement, has one company under observation.