Canadian funds like energy stocks despite potential rejection in Norway
CALGARY — Oil and gas investments may have soured for managers of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund but two Canadian funds say they have plenty of room for such securities in their portfolios.
In a letter this week, Norway’s central bank urged the Norwegian government to consider divesting oil and gas company shares held in the US$1-trillion oil fund to avoid the risk of permanently lower commodity prices. It didn’t say why prices might fall.
But low commodity prices are an opportunity to make more investments in the oil and gas sector, not less, according to the corporation that controls $96 billion in Alberta government pension fund assets.
“AIMCo is not considering selling out of its position in the energy industry,” Denes Nemeth, spokesman for the Alberta Investment Management Corp., said in an email on Friday.