Norway Wealth Fund Hit by Major Turkish Stock Manipulation Scandal
- Norway’s sovereign wealth fund held approximately 208 million dollars in Turkish companies facing regulatory investigations and market turmoil, according to data analyzed by Bloomberg.
- The sovereign fund's portfolio included investments in several firms caught up in Borsa İstanbul’s regulatory investigations and trading suspensions.
- In July, Norges Bank Investment Management acquired approximately a 5 percent stake in SA-RA Enerji İnşaat during its initial public offering.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund held approximately 208 million dollars in Turkish companies facing regulatory investigations and market turmoil, according to data analyzed by Bloomberg. Norges Bank Investment Management held about 2 billion Norwegian kroner across 10 Turkish firms as of June 30, representing roughly 10 percent of its total Turkish equity portfolio. The sovereign fund, with its 2,3 trillion dollars in assets, held a total of 20,4 billion kroner in Turkish stock market equities, as reported by Bloomberg HT.
Exposure to Market Turmoil Across Ten Equities
The sovereign fund’s portfolio included investments in several firms caught up in Borsa İstanbul’s regulatory investigations and trading suspensions. These holdings suffered sharp declines as investigations into alleged market manipulation widened across the exchange, a process triggered when Pusula Portföy and Tera Portföy, a Tera Yatırım subsidiary, failed to make payments to fund investors. Following a more than 6 percent drop in the BIST 100 index, the Capital Markets Board (SPK) halted operations and ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by 7 companies.
Astor Enerji A.Ş. represented the fund’s largest single investment among the affected entities, with a 2 percent stake. Astor shares dropped 41 percent over a one-month period. The fund also held stakes in Destek Finans Faktoring A.Ş. and Odine Solutions Teknoloji Ticaret ve Sanayi A.Ş., both of which experienced massive surges followed by steep corrections. Destek Finans Faktoring, taken public by Tera’s investment bank and invested in by Tera’s funds, saw its shares rise more than 600 percent this year, pushing its market value to a peak of 1,3 trillion liras (about 27,9 billion dollars) in July, before its founder Altunç Kumova was arrested and shares collapsed. Odine Solutions Teknoloji, which a fund managed by Pusula also invested in, saw its shares surge 987 percent from the start of 2026 until August 12, taking the company’s market value to 366 billion liras before experiencing a 94 percent crash from its peak; additionally, Odine shareholder Cengiz Avcı faced a detention order, while the same shares had risen 987 percent this year to reach a 366 billion lira market value on August 12.
Norges Bank Buys Shares in Tera and SA-RA
In July, Norges Bank Investment Management acquired approximately a 5 percent stake in SA-RA Enerji İnşaat during its initial public offering. Tera Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş. led the banking group managing that offering. SA-RA shares subsequently lost half their value and fell to record lows, though the Ankara-based energy infrastructure firm was not named in recent manipulation probes. The fund also purchased shares in Tera Yatırım Menkul Değerler and Tera Yatırım Teknoloji Holding during 2025. Those active purchases occurred five months after the fund severed ties with its previous external portfolio manager in Istanbul. Emre Tezmen, founder and chairman of Tera Yatırım, was arrested as investigations into fund payment failures and market manipulation escalated. Records show NBIM owned 809,454 shares, or 0.12 percent, of Tera Yatırım Menkul Değerler itself, alongside 6,4 million shares, or 0.32 percent, in Tera Yatırım Teknoloji Holding, with acquisitions across the majority of the 10 connected Turkish companies occurring in 2025 as active investments rather than passive index-tracking allocations.
Portfolio Management Shifts Prior to the Crackdown
Norges Bank Investment Management terminated its relationship with Istanbul Portföy Yönetimi after regulatory authorities fined a leading partner of that management firm over misleading practices in two cement stocks. By September, the fund utilized Neo Portföy and TRG Management to handle its Turkish equities. The fund transitioned its Borsa İstanbul positions through Neo Portföy and TRG Management following the split with Istanbul Portföy.
An NBIM spokesperson declined to comment on whether the fund still holds the specific shares linked to the current regulatory investigations. NBIM discloses portfolio holdings twice a year and does not publicize intermediate adjustments made between those reporting dates.