A view of Oslo from the rooftop of the Oslo Opera House on Thursday, October 21, 2021 in Oslo, Norway.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund made a profit of $247 billion in 2025, thanks to gains in tech, financial and mining stocks, management announced Thursday.
The fund posted annual profits of SEK 2.36 trillion ($246.9 billion). By the end of last year, the Fund’s total volume had reached NOK 21.27 trillion, and during 2025 the Fund would have returned NOK 13.5 trillion, its highest annual return since its creation in the 1990s.
The overall return was 0.28 percentage points lower than the benchmark index return.
Stocks, which make up about 71% of the fund’s investments, returned 19.3% last year.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) manages the Fund on behalf of Norwegian citizens. The fund was established in the 1990s to invest surplus profits from Norway’s oil and gas industry and currently invests in more than 7,000 companies in 60 countries.
The most valuable investments include Nvidia1.2% stake apple and holds a 1.3% stake microsoft.
“Technology, financials and basic materials stocks stood out and contributed significantly to overall returns,” NBIM CEO Nikolai Tangen said in a statement Thursday.
NBIM’s assets in the basic materials sector include major mining companies Fresnillo — The best-performing stock on London’s FTSE 100 index last year, soaring 452.5% following the silver boom and the Probe Gold acquisition.
In the financial sector, NBIM has significant holdings. bank of america, JP Morgan Chase and goldman sachs. The fund also holds various holdings in global financial institutions, including major European banks. Santander, UBS, HSBC and unicredit. Europe’s banking sector has delivered big returns for investors in recent years.
Outside of stocks, NBIM’s fixed income investments returned 5.4% in 2025, while private real estate returned 4.4%. The company’s renewable energy infrastructure holdings returned 18.1% last year.
The value of the Fund increased by SEK 1.53 trillion, or approximately $159.9 billion, in 2025.
white house clash
Although the fund had positive returns in 2025, some of its decisions drew criticism, particularly from the White House.
In September, the U.S. State Department told CNBC it was “deeply troubled” by the fund’s decision to exit positions in U.S. machinery maker Caterpillar and five Israeli banks, citing an “unacceptable risk” that the companies were complicit in rights abuses in the Palestinian territories.
A spokesperson claimed that NBIM’s withdrawal from Caterpillar “appears to be based on unwarranted allegations against Caterpillar and the Israeli government.”
Norway’s Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg later said the sale was “not a political decision.”
U.S. stocks account for 38.8% of the fund’s total investments.
Stoltenberg told Bloomberg last week that he saw no reason for the fund to exit the United States.
“Our presence in the U.S. reflects the size of the U.S. market, and I think that’s the best way to go for a very long-term fund,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Correction: The headline and text of this article have been updated to correct a conversion error when reporting fund returns in U.S. dollars.
