World's biggest wealth fund puts Japan's Kirin Holdings on watch list over Myanmar link (updated)

Atal SA

03/03/2021 22:51

* Norway fund says may divest from drinks giant Kirin
    * Fund to monitor Kirin's severance of Myanmar army ties
    * Thyssenkrupp subject to anti-corruption dialogue
    * Poland's Atal removed from exclusions list

 (Adds background, action on additional companies)
    By Terje Solsvik
    OSLO, March 3 (Reuters) - The Norwegian central bank said on
Wednesday it had put Japan's Kirin Holdings Ltd Co  2503.T  on a
watch list for possible exclusion from its $1.3 trillion
sovereign wealth fund over the beverage giant's ties to a
business owned by Myanmar's military.
    "Kirin has recently announced an intention to end this
business cooperation, and the implementation of this will be
followed up as a part of the observation," the central bank said
in a statement.
    Kirin Holdings was not immediately available for comment
when contacted by Reuters.
    The drinks giant said on Feb. 5 it would scrap a joint
venture called Myanmar Brewery, in which Kirin's controlling
stake was valued at up to $1.7 billion, after the army staged a
coup deposing the democratically elected government.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KB04F
    Later in the month, however, Kirin said it still wanted to
keep selling beer in Myanmar.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KL0DJ
    Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the world's
largest sovereign wealth fund, held a 1.29% stake in Kirin
Holdings at the end of 2020 with a value of $277.1 million.
    The Norwegian sovereign fund, formally called the Government
Pension Fund Global and set up in 1996 to save petroleum
revenues for future generations, owns about 1.5% of all globally
listed shares.
    Holding stakes in around 9,100 companies worldwide, it has
set the pace on a host of issues in the environmental, social
and corporate governance (ESG) field, and its decisions are
often followed by other investors.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2CV14K urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2CV03O
    The bank separately said it would allow the wealth fund to
invest again in Poland's Atal SA  1AT.WA , which had been
excluded since 2017 for risk of human rights violations through
its use of North Korean workers at Polish construction sites.
    "As a result of a resolution in the United Nations Security
Council, all North Korean workers have now been sent out of
Poland. Therefore, there are no longer grounds for excluding the
company," Norges Bank said.
    Atal did not immediately respond to an email seeking
comment.
    A third firm, Germany's Thyssenkrupp AG  TKAG.DE , will be
the subject of an "active ownership" process as the fund's
management seeks to probe the company's anti-corruption work,
Norges bank said.
    "Norges Bank has been in dialogue with the company over a
long period of time. We therefore have a good foundation for
active ownership on the issues to which this matter relates,"
the central bank said.
    The fund held a 1.3% stake in the German firm at the end of
2020 valued at $147.1 million.
    Thyssenkrupp did not immediately respond to an email seeking
comment.

 (Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Richard Pullin)
 ((gwladys.fouche@tr.com; +47 21 04 05 53; Reuters Messaging:
Twitter handle: @gfouche))