[ad_1]
The Executive Director of the Norwegian Sovereign Fund Yngwe Slingstad. Photo by Odin Jaeger / Bloomberg |
The CEO of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which is the largest in the world, may be investigated in his home country after agreeing to a trip that likely violates the fund’s ethics rules, reports Bloomberg.
Norges Bank, which oversees an investment fund worth nearly $ 1 trillion. dollars, will investigate whether a flight taken by CEO Inve Slingstad last year was appropriate, the bank said.
Slingstad, who announced his decision to resign as head of the fund in October after receiving a standing ovation for his performance in the past 12 years, has accepted a proposal to travel on a luxury charter flight with a Nikolai Tangen Boeing 777 aircraft. The 53-year-old hedge fund manager and founder of AKO Capital will replace Slingstad as CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Fund later this year.
The matter is compounded by questions about Tangen’s selection as head of the fund, as he has been criticized by Norwegian media for his frequent air travel deemed inappropriate for the country’s savings saver. It is also concerned about the electoral process that resulted in Tangen becoming the new chief executive, although the fund reports that Slingstad was not involved in the decision.
“Inve Slingstad claims he has been invited as part of the bank’s operations,” Austen Olsen, central bank governor and chairman of the fund’s executive board, said in an email. “Slingstad notes that he had to take a regular flight to his homeland, paid for by Norges Bank. The bank will now review the trip to make sure it was done in accordance with its ethical rules,” added Olsen.
The trip, first reported by the Norwegian newspaper VG, was organized in the context of the regular Slingstad conferences. Tangen invited Slingstad to participate in the event, which took place last November. The conference was called “Back to College” and was held at Wharton Business School. Slingstad participated in the panel, “What kind of economic system do we need to prosper in the next decade and beyond,” the fund said.
“Norges Bank covered the cost of the Yngwe Slingstad flight to New York, as well as the train ticket to Pennsylvania,” the fund wrote in a written response to questions. AKO Capital, which is an investment company owned by Tangen, “is not a business relationship. When we organize our own seminars at Norges Bank, we tend to cover the cost of food and hotel speakers. When we are speakers, we usually attend breakfasts, Event-related lunches and dinners, the costs of which are generally paid by the organizer. In some situations, the conference organizer also pays the hotel if one is appointed as a speaker. Yngwe Slingstad has returned for practical reasons with a charter flight from Pennsylvania to Oslo. These costs were covered by Tangen, “said the bank.
The event included a $ 1 million private concert by Sting, which was also paid for by Tangen, reports VG.
The Fund reports that Slingstad did not participate in the selection process for its successor. This decision was made by the central bank. “Slingstad was not involved in any way in the selection process,” the fund said.
Tangen has borne the cost of traveling for another passenger, his old friend and prosecutor Fredric Sayrsted. Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s office said Sunday that the prosecutor was no longer called to seek advice on Tangen issues, given the links between them.
Opposition parties in Norway have asked the government to check for potentially inappropriate behavior, VG reported Sunday. The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Thorbjorn Roe Isaxen, who was responsible for commerce and industry at the time, also participated in the event, although the government paid for his trip and stay.
Commitment schedule
Such events are normal for Slingstad and are part of his job as CEO of the sovereign wealth fund.
“Slingstad has extensive contacts with other funds and investors,” the fund said. “Nikolai Tangen is one of the people with whom it is natural for Slingstad to keep in touch as CEO of AKO Capital. Contacts between Tangen and Slingstad are based on their professional roles as leaders of their respective organizations,” added the message.
Tangen, who was criticized by the local press for his company’s decision to use a country of tax haven, recently had to give up his previous inheritance tax returns because they did not comply with the request of the fund CEO refrains from making statements. policies.
He is expected to take over as CEO of the sovereign wealth fund in September.
[ad_2]
