Norges Bank Investment Management, the manager overseeing Norway’s $1.42 trillion oil fund, has initiated a process to close the representative office in Shanghai.

The sovereign fund said its investments in China remain unchanged and the decision is driven by operational considerations and does not affect the fund’s investment strategy or its investments in China, according to a statement on Thursday.

“Our representative office in Shanghai has been in operation since November 2007. We currently have eight people at the office. Over the years, our Singapore office has increasingly served as the hub for the whole of the Asian region and has been built up to take care of all operational functions, including for China,” Norges Bank Investment Management said.

Effectively, the decision to close the office in Shanghai is therefore only an adjustment of its operating business model, it added.

“As of end of 2022 we were invested in approximately 850 Chinese companies with a total value of approximately $42 billion, the fund said in the statement,” Norges Bank Investment Management said. “We will ensure that the closing process is conducted in an orderly manner for all affected persons at the office and in line with local requirements and procedures.”

Norges Bank Investment Management manages the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, often referred to as the Norwegian oil fund. It manages assets worth more than 15,000 billion kroner, or about $1.4 trillion. The fund is invested in international equity and fixed-income markets and in real estate and renewable energy infrastructure, according to its website.

The aim of the fund is to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations of Norway. The fund is the largest single owner in the world’s stock markets, owning almost 1.5 percent of all shares in the world’s listed companies. This means that it has holdings in around 9,000 companies worldwide. I

In addition, the fund owns hundreds of buildings in some of the world’s leading cities and an offshore wind farm. The fund also receives a steady flow of income from lending to countries and companies.

The fund has 572 people from 35 countries with offices in Oslo, London, New York and Singapore.

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