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Norway’s $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund confirmed Thursday that it has been caught up in Türkiye’s investment fund scandal, with its Turkish stock holdings losing more than $300 million since June, according to calculations by Türkiye Today.
"We’re more the victim than the perpetrator here," Trond Grande, deputy chief executive officer of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages Government Pension Fund Global, told reporters, arguing that investors exposed to potentially manipulated stocks have also suffered from the scandal.
Grande added that the fund reviews its investments when problems emerge, Bloomberg reported. NBIM has assessed its Turkish stock holdings and the external managers overseeing its investments in the country, she added, though it has not disclosed the findings.
In mid-September, Turkish markets came under heavy selling pressure after several investment funds failed to meet investor redemption requests. The Capital Markets Board (SPK) subsequently ordered the liquidation of 131 investment funds over six months, affecting more than 455,000 investors and assets worth ₺936.3 billion ($19.1 billion) at the time.
As authorities continue to oversee the liquidation process, legal proceedings are also moving forward. Selling pressure on Turkish equities continues to weigh on prices, with the benchmark BIST 100 index falling more than 20% since the market rout and wiping out more than ₺3 trillion ($60.3 billion) in market capitalization.
The fund held 20.4 billion kroner ($2.2 billion) in Turkish stocks as of June 30, according to its latest filing, accounting for 0.1% of its total portfolio. Of that amount, around 2 billion kroner ($208 million) was invested in 10 Turkish companies under investigation by authorities following the September market rout.
The fund’s broader Turkish portfolio lost ₺15 billion ($302.2 million) over the period, a decline of around 15.6%, based on calculations using market closing figures from Oct. 22.
Astor Enerji, a transformer and electrical equipment manufacturer, recorded the largest decline in portfolio value at around ₺2.5 billion, followed by Destek Finans Faktoring, a financing company, at ₺1.9 billion and Akbank at ₺1.1 billion.
In percentage terms, shares of Destek Finans Faktoring plunged 95.6% between June 30 and Oct. 22, while savings-based financing company Katilimevim fell 91.4% and dairy producer Altinkilic dropped 91%, based on portfolio calculations.
Bloomberg has reported that the Norwegian fund retained positions in three Turkish stocks even after regulators found evidence of manipulation in 2025. In July, NBIM also took part in an initial public offering arranged by Tera Yatirim, the brokerage firm now at the center of the broader investigation over the scandal.
The statement came as NBIM reported a loss of 278 billion kroner ($29.7 billion) in the third quarter of 2026, delivering a return of minus 0.5% and underperforming its benchmark index by 0.18 percentage points. Rising interest rates weighed on bond investments, while a stronger Norwegian krone reduced the value of overseas holdings, it said.
The fund’s total value fell by 670 billion kroner during the quarter, from 22.683 trillion kroner at the end of June to 22.014 trillion kroner at the end of September.
Currency movements accounted for an additional 472 billion kroner in losses when foreign assets were converted into kroner, while net inflows of 80 billion kroner after management costs partly offset the decline.
Equities, which made up 72.1% of the portfolio, were valued at 15.875 trillion kroner and returned 0.5% during the quarter. Fixed-income investments accounted for 25.8% of assets, or 5.649 trillion kroner, but posted a negative return of 3.5%.
Unlisted real estate, valued at 363 billion kroner, returned 0.4%, while unlisted renewable energy infrastructure holdings worth 114 billion kroner gained 7.5%.
Established in 1990, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global aims to invest the country’s oil and gas revenues internationally to preserve and grow its wealth for future generations.
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