Screening Norway Excludes Wal-mart, Freeport From Oil Fund

Screening Norway excludes Wal-Mart, Freeport from oil fund

Reuters

6th June 2006

Norway said on Tuesday it had excluded shares in U.S. retailer Wal-Mart (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and metals group Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) from its more than $240 billion oil fund for ethical reasons.

Norway's finance ministry said it was shutting Wal-Mart's shares out of the fund due to what the fund's ethical council called "serious/systematic violations of human rights and labour rights."

It said it was excluding stocks in Freeport McMoRan due to "serious environmental damage."

The Government Pension Fund -- Global, which invests surplus oil wealth in foreign stocks and bonds, was worth 1.48 trillion Norwegian crowns ($246.2 billion) at the end of March. The fund, one of the world's biggest pension funds, is managed for the government by Norway's central bank.