The head of the Oil Fund lobbies for the speculators

Dagens Næringsliv writes in an editorial on 15/4:

“The oil fund manager has been running around talking about how unlisted shares are in reality a free lunch for the fund. With his considerable speaking gifts, he has told a story about the money lying in the street, you just have to pick it up”.

At the Oil Fund’s annual investor conference 2024, the guest of honor was the Norwegian hedge fund manager Ole Andreas Halvorsen who is among the world’s richest hedge fund managers with a fortune of 7.2 billion dollars, according to Forbes. He manages around NOK 500 billion through the American hedge fund Viking Global Investors with the Viking ship in its logo.

This is what Øyvind Andresen writes on his blog: Tangen on the move for the world’s financial vikings.

“It’s important to give the environment in Norway a boost, and you are the hero above all heroes”, wrote oil fund manager Nicolai Tangen in an email to Halvorsen ahead of the meeting, according to DN.

The media-shy “financial squire” Halvorsen spoke to the Norwegian financial elite only after the official program, and under so-called “Chatham Rules”, which mean that no one can be quoted directly from the session. There was a ban on minutes.

Torbjørn Røe Isaksen commented on this on E24 and wrote: Unwise and incomprehensible.

Marius Reikerås comments on this point Facebook:

Former Conservative cabinet minister, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, sharpens his pen and criticizes Tangen’s meeting with Ole Andreas Halvorsen under so-called Chatham House rules. This means that the information from the meeting must be kept closed.

But has Røe Isaksen forgotten that he was part of the oil tour of the ages, when Nicolai Tangen wanted the chief job of the oil fund and burned well over 30 million on Røe Isaksen and the rest of the elite?

And the trip was subject to “Chatham House Rules”: What is said in the group, stays in the group. Just a shame for Isaksen that it came out.

When it was discovered, Røe Isaksen wanted to pay for the trip himself. That is, the taxpayers paid. And the bill for Røe Isaksen came to +/- NOK 250,000.

VG wrote in April 2020:

“Private jets from Europe, three nights at a Hilton hotel, seminars with the world’s leading academics, food and drink and two shows with world stars Sting and Gregory Porter. This is how financier Nicolai Tangen treated friends and acquaintances in Norwegian and international social life from 14 to 17 November last year.

Sting received nine million kroner from Tangen for a two-hour long concert.

– The arrangement was absolutely incredible. It was a treat. We were invited as guests without paying anything ourselves, it was exceptionally generous from Tangen, says board wholesaler and art collector Knut Brundtland (58) to VG.

In one weekend, Norway’s new Uncle Skrue, who will soon be looking after our joint oil fund, spent more money on the “seminar of the times” for his friends and acquaintances than many have between their hands during a working life.”

In a pompous demonstration of his wealth, Tangen, as VG correctly writes, has spent more money on smearing social leaders for four days than many ordinary people manage to earn in a lifetime.

And we raised the question:

Read: Has Nicolai Tangen bribed himself into the job as director of the Oil Fund?

Erik Stephansen in The online newspaper follows up by showing that the government attorney Fredrik Sejersted have known Nicolai Tangen for 34 years. The two have been groomsmen at each other’s weddings, and godparents to each other’s children. Read Stephansen’s article here: Embarrassing to see the retreat of the social elites. also read Erling Borgens comment.

This is good. Grill them on a slow heat. But don’t forget the bigger picture. We are talking about a man who will manage a large part of the national wealth. If his standard is anything less than absolutely impeccable he has no business there. And not least, you should check:

Who is behind Nicolai Tangen?

In all mentions of the tax cheat and money launderer Tangen, he is portrayed as if he is a “self-made”, independent actor. But is he?

Norges Bank says that they have not been able to see Tangen’s entire customer list. That alone is incredible in itself. Nevertheless, they say they have confidence in Tangen’s “ethical standard”! (How can one mention Nicolai Tangen and “ethical standard” in the same sentence if there is no denial in between?)

It is not likely that Tangen is a lone wolf on the financial market. We have looked at the companies AKO Capital invests in. Source: holdingschannel.com.

What is common to many of the companies on this list is that “the usual suspects”, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, are among the largest owners. These companies form such an interwoven and dense cluster that they appear as a financial mega-corporation.

We have more than hinted that Nicolai Tangen has turned the Oljefondet into a supplier of overdraft for Wall Street. We cannot see that his recent performance has weakened that criticism.

Moneyland

Øyvind Andresen writes:

You can read the list of the many speakers at the conference on the website of Norges Bank’s Investment Management. Here are some: Greg Jensen from the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, Mark Rowan from one of the world’s largest private equity companies, Apollo, and Netscape founder and one of Silicon Valley’s most important investors: Marc Andreessen. In addition, the poker queen posed Annie Duke.

It would go too far here to scrutinize these speakers and their companies (where is the critical press?), but I can cite an example of how Marc Rowan’s company Apollo operates: In 2015, Verallia, the world’s third largest bottle and vial manufacturer, was bought up of Apollo. The result was redundancies, the end of necessary investments, an IPO, and 2.9 billion euros in profit for Apollo. (See Eva Joly and Nina Witoszsek: The oil fund and the poisonous charm of unlisted shares, DN 22/5 – 23)