Norwegian petroleum wealth and universal ownership

Abstract

How useful are universal owner arguments for a large, diversified investor such as Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)? This article presents concrete issues, such as climate change and corruption, which can be analysed using universal owner arguments. However, it also discusses potential weaknesses of this argumentative strategy. The article includes a general background to Norway's Government Pension Fund Global - now one of the world's largest funds - and concludes that such a fund could utilise universal owner insights in its work as an active owner by (1) addressing both companies and standard setters on issues of portfolio-wide, long-term importance; (2) respecting a division of labour between different actors in the market place; and (3) taking part in collaborative arrangements, both within organised networks and informally between investors. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.