Kjetil Houg

Folketrygdfondet is an active, value-oriented, long-term manager which administers the Government Pension Fund Norway following rules set by the Ministry of Finance mandate requiring them to invest in equities and fixed-income instruments in a counter-cyclical manner in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The strategic benchmark stipulates a 60 percent allocation to equities and 40 percent to fixed income, with a regional split of 80-90 percent in Norway and 10-20 percent across the rest of the Nordic region. The firm’s managers apply both qualitative and quantitative criteria. Folketrygdfondet focus on fundamental factors such as macroeconomic assessments, performance trends, equity returns, capital structure, pricing, cash flow and analyses of corporate governance, environmental and social matters.

OPF is an active manager which performs in-house management of Norwegian securities, loans, derivatives, and a mandate for Nordic equities while other assets are managed externally. They also manage a portfolio of hedge funds and private equity house. A real estate portfolio is managed externally but all investment decisions are made by OPF. The firm's Board determines the overall strategy for asset management. Portfolios are regularly exposed to various stress tests to ensure that the capital buffer is large enough to withstand any sharp market drops. The OPF Board constructs a strategic portfolio based on the achieving the highest possible risk adjusted return.