A view of Oslo seen from the roof of the Oslo Opera House in Oslo, Norway, on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021.
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Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund posted a record $1.4 billion return in 2025, its management team said Thursday, thanks to rallying tech, financial and mining stocks.
By the end of last year, the fund’s total value stood at 21.27 trillion Norwegian kroner ($2.2 trillion). Over the course of 2025, the fund returned 13,456.8 billion kronor, or $1.38 billion — its highest annual return since its inception in the 90s.
The overall return was 0.28 percentage points lower than the return on its benchmark index.
Equities, 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 the Norwegian population. Set up in the 1990s to invest excess revenues from Norway’s oil and gas industry, the fund is currently an investor in more than 7,000 companies across 60 countries.
Its most valuable investments include a 1.3% stake in Nvidia, a 1.2% stake in Apple and a 1.3% stake in Microsoft.
“Stocks in technology, financials and basic materials stood out, making a significant contribution to the overall return”, Nicolai Tangen, NBIM’s CEO, said in a statement on Thursday.
NBIM’s holdings in the basic materials sector include mining giant Fresnillo — the best-performing stock on London’s FTSE 100 last year, which surged 452.5% amid a silver boom and its acquisition of Probe Gold.
In the financial sector, NBIM holds significant stakes in Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. The fund also has various holdings in global lenders, including European banking giants Santander, UBS, HSBC and UniCredit. Europe’s banking sector has been a source of major returns for investors in recent years.
Outside equities, NBIM’s fixed income investments returned 5.4% in 2025, while unlisted real estate returned 4.4%. Its renewable energy infrastructure holdings returned 18.1% last year.
The fund increased in value by 1.53 trillion kroner — around $159.2 billion — in 2025.
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