Norway's massive $1.1 trillion (£777bn) sovereign wealth fund has pulled its investment in UK defence company BAE Systems, as it continues an ethical push.
The fund – which has traditionally focused on oil, but decided to ditch oil and gas investments last year – has also sold off its stake in another eight companies as part of its principles drive.
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It said it had decided to exclude London-listed BAE Systems, US engineering firms AECOM and Fluor Corp, and shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries because of their involvement in the production of nuclear weapons.
However the news did not go down well with everyone in the market. In a column in the Wall Street Jounal, Arizona State University law professor Orde Kittrie criticised the fund for blacklisting companies which help produce US nuclear weapons. He pointed out that Norway, as a Nato member, relies on these very weapons or its defence.
Shipping companies Evergreen Marine Corp, Korea Line Corp, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies were also given the shove due to "the risk of severe environmental damage and serious or systematic violations of human rights".
South Korea's Pan Ocean Co. was placed under review for the same reasons, while Polish residential developer Atal was excluded due to the risk of human rights violations.
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The decisions were made by the fund's executive board, on the recommendation of its Council on Ethics. It said it did consider whether there were better ways to address the problems it saw, such as exercising ownership rights to make a change, but in these cases concluded it was not appropriate.
Managed by Norges Bank, the fund has now excluded more than 100 companies including names such as Serco, Wal-Mart and Airbus.
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