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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. Telia

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