Summit Series with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund

In his conversation with London Business School's Florin Vasvari in the latest Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital (IEPC) Summit Series event, Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, gave a fascinating account of the origins of Norway's wealth fund.

"The politicians decided they wanted to put it into a fund to avoid some of the things they had seen in other countries so in 1996, they put money into the market for the first time, NKr2bn. That has now grown to 19,000bn. So it’s now the largest sovereign wealth fund."

The fund was set up to give the government room for manoeuvre in fiscal policy should oil prices drop or the mainland economy contract.

It also served as a tool to manage the financial challenges of an ageing population and an expected drop in petroleum revenue. The fund was designed to be invested for the long term, but in a way that made it possible to draw on when required.

Tangen was previously Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer in AKO Capital, which he founded in 2005. He also set up the AKO Foundation in 2013, which supports charitable initiatives to improve education, promote the arts and mitigate climate problems. Prior to this, Tangen was a partner and senior analyst at Egerton Capital and an equity analyst at Cazenove & Co.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in finance from the Wharton School and Master’s Degrees in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics. He has also studied Russian at the Norwegian Armed Forces’ School of Intelligence and Security.

For more information about The Summit Series click here