Norway’s government said it won’t rush any reduction of its $65billion stake in Statoil ASA, the largest company in western Europe’s biggest energy producer.
The policy will also apply to a number of Norway’s other big companies in which the government is an owner, Trade and Industry Minister Monica Maeland said yesterday in an interview in Oslo. Those include Telenor ASA and Norsk Hydro ASA.
“We don’t want to move too quickly and we want to make sure we find the right owners and keep the value of what we own,” Maeland said. “Norway will always own a large amount of the companies we have a stake in, but we’re looking at allowing more private ownership.”
The government is due to publish a proposal next week outlining which companies it will invest less in and how the divestments will be carried out. Maeland, who took office in October, has met with representatives from companies including Telenor, the largest Nordic phone company, Cermaq ASA, a salmon producer, and Statkraft AS, Europe’s largest renewable energy producer, to gather information for the review.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, whose Conservative-led minority government ousted a Labor-led coalition in September, said in August her administration would seek to cut its stake in Statoil to 51% from 67%.
The company, based in Stavanger on Norway’s west coast, operates about 80% of the country’s oil and gas production. Shares in Statoil fell as much as 0.6% to 182.4kroner, the lowest intraday level in a week, and traded at 182.5kroner as of 10am in Oslo.
Besides its large state holdings in energy firms, Norway has also built up an $880billion sovereign wealth fund to prevent its fossil fuel riches from overheating the economy.
Before becoming prime minister, Solberg signaled her government would seek a one-third ownership stake in Telenor and aluminum producer Norsk Hydro. Norway’s government owns 34.3% of Hydro and 54% of Telenor.
“There is no plan to move very, very quickly on anything,” Maeland said. “It’s about finding the right timing and right opportunities.”
Norway owns about 59% of Cermaq, 34% of DNB ASA, the country’s biggest bank, 14.3% of Nordic airline SAS AB and 36.2% of fertilizer maker Yara ASA.
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