Nicolai Tangen

Spear’s Review

Nicolai Tangen has his hand on the tiller of the world’s largest sovereign investment fund, which holds around 1.5 per cent of the world’s publicly listed equities. 

The CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management oversees the $2.0 trillion Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which was created in 1990 to invest revenues from the country’s oil industry. Owning to his success in the role, Tangen was appointed to a second five-year term as CEO in March 2025.

Having been an analyst at Cazenove earlier in his career, Tangen set up hedge fund AKO in London in 2005. By the time he left to manage the finances of his countrymen in 2020, AKO had $18 billion in assets under management and 70 employees.

Alongside his day job, Tangen hosts a podcast, In Good Company, for which he has been joined by guests including Ken Griffin, Sir Chris Hohn, John Elkann (of the Agnelli family), chess champion Magnus Carlsen, former EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and Elon Musk. 

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