By Dominic Chopping


Norway's $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund said late Thursday that it has decided to exclude two Thai and one Israeli company from its portfolio over human rights concerns.

Thai state-owned oil and gas company PTT PCL and subsidiary PTT Oil and Retail Business PCL will be excluded due to an unacceptable risk that they "contribute to serious violations of individuals' rights in situations of war or conflict," it said.

The wealth fund is managed by Norway's central bank, but decisions to exclude or place companies on observation are made based on recommendations from an ethics council appointed by the Ministry of Finance.

The fund adheres to guidelines that mean it doesn't invest in certain weapons manufacturers, thermal coal miners, tobacco producers or companies responsible for environmental damage or which violate human rights, for example.

The Thai companies have oil and gas project partnerships with Myanmar state-owned and military-owned companies and provide the armed forces with substantial revenue streams that can finance military operations and abuses, the fund's ethics council said.

In February 2021 the armed forces in Myanmar staged a coup, after which the military has intensified its "extremely serious abuses of civilians," the ethics council added.

Israeli security software provider Cognyte Software Ltd will be excluded from the fund due to unacceptable risk that the company contributes to serious human rights violations, it said.

Cognyte supplies surveillance products and services and the council said several of the states that are said to be among its customers have been accused of serious human rights violations.

"The council considers that surveillance of political opponents and minorities is a foreseeable risk for the company, given the products and services it offers."

Neither PTT or Cognyte immediately responded to requests for comment.

The fund also said it has removed Italian aerospace-and-defense company Leonardo SpA from observation, saying it no longer sees an unacceptable risk of corruption after the company implemented an anti-corruption system.

At the end of 2021, the most recent date information is available, the fund held a 0.35% ownership stake in PTT, 0.11% in PTT Oil & Retail Business, 0.87% in Cognyte and 1.17% in Leonardo.


Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-16-22 0727ET