Lingui Development Berhad Ltd. excluded from the GPFG

On the recommendation of the Council on Ethics, the Ministry of Finance has decided to exclude the Malaysian company Lingui Developments Berhad from the Government Pension Fund Global’s (GPFG) investment portfolio. The divestment from the company has been completed.

Lingui Developments Berhad is involved in forestry operations in the tropical rainforest, and the decision to exclude is based on the risk that the company contributes to severe environmental damage.

The Council bases its recommendation on satellite image analysis, evaluation of available documents and field visits. Lingui Developments Berhad is a daughter company of the already excluded company Samling Global Ltd. The violations referred to in the Lingui recommendation  formed part of the basis of the Samling exclusion. In addition to the recommendation specific to the Lingui exclusion, the Samling recommendation [LENKE] can be consulted for more information.

The Ministry wrote a letter to Norges Bank on 5 November 2010 informing the bank of the forthcoming exclusion. The divestment is now complete. The GPFG held shares worth NOK 2.7 million in Lingui Developments Berhad at year end 2009.

The Ministry’s final decision on whether or not to divest from a company is made on the basis of the Council's recommendation. The Ministry has not made an independent assessment of every aspect of the the Council’s recommendation but is satisfied that the recommendation document establishes with reasonable certainty  that an investment in the company represents an unacceptable risk of violating the Ethical Guidelines.

Read more:

• The recommendations of the Council on Ethics
• Council on Ethics for the GPFG
• A complete list of the companies excluded from the investment universe of the GPFG