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Oil money power intensifying in Sweden as the Middle East gradually throw its money into Swedish corporations
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Swedish stocks are now back to business with the Norwegian and the
Middle East oil fund weighing in for more big buys after a period of
slump. Norway's Oil fund is now one of the biggest money houses
increasingly owning Swedish assets but the Middle East oil money is
also competing strongly.
According to Swedish business daily, Dagens Industri, in a compilation report, Oil funds from Norway, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi are greatly buying shares of various Swedish companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Among their favourite purchases, major Swedish banks and Volvo (the heavy-duty goods maker) are the most sought after.
The paper reports that foreign investors are back on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. During the second quarter they increased their stake by 0.7 percentage points to 40.1 percent. After three quarters of decline, the foreign ownerships have thus once again returned to a level of over 40 percent, according to figures from the SIS Ägarservice a company that provides ownership information about Sweden´s listed companies.
The increase is in line with the long term trend. Since the
beginning of 2006, foreign share on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
increased from about 35 percent to over 40 percent. The peak level of
almost 41 percent was reached in the second quarter last year. But
since then, the proportion has declined gradually for three consecutive
quarters.
International investors are back mainly from the big hitters such as
the Norwegian oil funds, and its contemporaries from Saudi Arabia
and Abu Dhabi, buying Swedish equities in large numbers. The largest
increase is Norwegian oil fund. Norges Bank Investment Management, the
(NBIM), the Fund's real name as known today is by far the largest
foreign owner of Swedish securities on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
Norwegians Swedish ownership in shares rose more than 8 percent in
value to Skr77.1 billion at the end of June, although the stock market
fell slightly over the period. Their largest purchases were made in the
banks SEB, Swedbank and Nordea and then technology company Volvo AB.
The Norwegian government is now Volvo's second-largest shareholder, and
therefore has the power to influence the board by having a
representative on the nominating committee.
Norwegian oil fund is a proud owner of Swedish securities worth over
Skr100 billion as of July 14 this year. This figure also includes
holdings in companies such as in AstraZeneca , ABB and Autoliv, company
that are not count as Swedish due to a large proportion being owned by
non-Swedish headcounts.
The second largest net buyers in the second quarter was the Saudi
Arabia's oil fund. Between quarters, the value of the Saudi Swedish
shares have risen by over 11 percent to Skr13.9 billion. Just as the
Norwegian oil fund, Saudis primarily purchase if is driven to the
shares in the major Swedish banks. Maximum value increase has occurred
in Nordea, where the number of shares increased from 20 million to 31
million, representing an increase in value of over Skr800 million.
Nordea is now Saudis' greatest Swedish holdings, followed by Ericsson
and H & M.
Like the Norwegians the Saudis have are selling their holdings in engineering company Sandvik , SKF and Atlas Copco.
Abu Dhabi's oil fund net buys is also large in Swedish bank, SEB,
Handelsbanken, Swedbank followed by TeliaSonera, and Volvo
AB for the quarter, while it sold out stake in healthcare
company, Elekta, and engineering companies Alfa Laval and Atlas Copco.
Total value of the Fund's Swedish investment rose by Skr705 million to
Skr 13.7 billion.
The foreign fund managers whose Swedish shares dropped the most in
value over the period is ishare funds. The fund has divested among
others large holdings in Ericsson and instead opted for TeliaSonera and
Stora Enso.
Five foreign major shareholders are on the Top Ten in terms of
ownership of a large stake in a single company. Common reason is that
they neither sold nor bought during the period.
Finnish Sampo, comes in second on the list, were its shares in Nordea
rose slightly during the period. At the same time German Volkswagen and
MAN saw their shares in Scania fall slightly. The same can be said for
Finnish Solidium shares in TeliaSonera and Tetra Laval shares in Alfa
Laval.
The 12 largest foreign owners on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
Foreign Ownership |
Amount of possession June 28 (SkrM) |
Amount of Possession, March 28 (SkrM) | Change |
Norges Bank Investment Management |
77,758 |
66,753 | 11,005 |
Sampo Oyj |
64,533 |
63,371 | 1,162 |
Volkswagen AG |
46,973 | 47,615 | -642 |
Capital Group funds |
37,253 |
38,029 |
-776 |
Solidium |
22,089 | 23,438 |
-1,349 |
iShares Funds | 13,271 | 14,471 | -1,200 |
Harbor Funds Inc | 17,288 |
18,373 | -1,085 |
Tetra Laval BV | 15,000 |
16,095 | -1,095 |
Vanguard funds | 14,808 |
15,024 |
-216 |
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency |
14,034 |
12,144 |
1,890 |
MAN AG |
13,842 |
14,005 |
-163 |
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority | 13,683 |
12 978 | 705 |
Source: SIS Ägarservice from the Swedish Business daily, Dagend Industri |