Norfund
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| Norfund AS | |
|---|---|
| Type | State owned |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Oslo, Norway |
| Area served | Global |
| Key people | Kjell Roland (CEO) Kristin Clemet (Chairman) |
| Industry | Private equity |
| Total equity | NOK 3.5 billion |
| Parent | Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
| Website | www.norfund.no |
Norfund AS is a private equity company owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its goal is to create jobs and reduce poverty in developing countries. The fund has assets of NOK 3.5 billion. Offices are located in Costa Rica, South Africa and Vietnam, in addition to the head office in Oslo.
The fund was created in 1997. It operates by making direct or indirect investments in profitable companies. The projects are have both an economic, environmental and social impact. Norfund has created two partnerships: Aureos Capital with the British CDC Group, and SN Power along with Statkraft - who also is owned by the Government of Norway. The fund also has a large portfolio within micro finance.
[edit] Critisism
According to a secret internal report from Ernst & Young, that the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv had gotten access to in August 2006, Norfund has lost money since the start, but kept this secret both for the owner and the board of directors. Until 2005 the total loss on core activities was NOK 315.8 million.[1] The analysis from Ernst & Young showed that the positive cash flow was due to high interest income from the large capital base, and partially due to income from the loan portfolio they had received from Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation in 2001. Norfund denied these claims, showing to their external auditor, KPMG.[2]
The following political process resulted with Per Emil Lindøe being replaced by Kjell Roland. Later the Norfund board withdrew, including members Einar Steensnæs, Grete Faremo and Borger Lenth, after lack of confindence from Minister of International Development, Erik Solheim. The new board was led by Kristin Clemet.
On July 3, 2007, the Office of the Auditor General of Norway haded a report on Norfund to the Storting. The main conclusion was that Norfund so far had not achieved its goals set for it. As critis had already pointed out, it was difficult to find a consistent rationale behind the investment portfolio.[3] Only one of six krones had gone to Africa South of Sahara, in direct opposition to the guidelines from the Storting. The report also showed that Norfund had not focused enough on investments and loans to projects in the least developed countries; at only 24% by the end of 2006.[4][5][6]
[edit] References
- ^ Dagens Næringsliv (2006-09-02). Skjulte giganttap for styret (Norwegian).
- ^ Norfund (2006-11-23). Forespørel fra Stortingets kontroll. og konstitusjonskomite (Norwegian).
- ^ Dagens Næringsliv. "Hjelp som monner", 2005-08-15. (Norwegian)
- ^ Office of the Auditor General of Norway (2007-07-03). Pressemelding: Norfund prioriterer ikke de fattigste landene høyt nok (Norwegian).
- ^ Office of the Auditor General of Norway (2007-07-03). Riksrevisjonens undersøkelse av Norfunds drift og forvaltning Dokument nr. 3:13 (2006–2007) (Norwegian).
- ^ E24 (2007-07-03). Riksrevisjonen slakter Norfund (Norwegian).
