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. 

As CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management since 2020, Tangen oversees the $1.7 trillion Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which was created in 1990 to invest revenues from the country’s oil industry.

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.

He has recently campaigned for permission to use the sovereign wealth fund to invest in private assets – a request that has been denied by Norway’s government.

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