Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest managing assets over $2.2 trillion, has decided not to invest in Adani Green Energy Ltd, citing corruption and financial crime allegations against the company.
The Government Pension Fund Global held 0.23% of Adani Green Energy as of 26 August 2025, worth $43.9 million at the time, when it last voted on the company’s shareholder resolutions. Norges Bank, which manages the sovereign wealth fund, did not comment on whether it has divested its stake since.
The decision was made public on Thursday on its website when it added Adani Green to its exclusion list, making it the second group firm to feature among over 200 companies that do not align with the Norwegian wealth fund’s ethics.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd was added to the list on 15 May 2024 due to its ownership of a port terminal in Myanmar, where the armed forces had overthrown the democratically elected government in a coup.
Norges did not disclose the details or evidence supporting corruption allegations against Adani Green Energy. As a practice, the fund provides a detailed explanation whenever it adds a company to the exclusion list.
A spokesperson for Norges declined to comment. The Adani Group didn’t respond to queries.
Norges’s investment decisions could wield significant influence over foreign investors, given the scale of its assets. The fund owns about 1.5% of the world’s listed market capitalization.
“If a marquee investor like Norges is exiting, it could prompt a few other foreign investors also to sell their stakes in the company. But it would not affect the company’s ability to attract investors,” said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern. “There are various classes of investors and the company always has a recourse to look at other types of investors.”
Adani indictment
US regulators indicted Adani Group chair Gautam Adani and his nephew, and Adani Green Energy director, Sagar Adani, for corruption and securities fraud in November 2024. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Department of Justice initiated proceedings against the Adani kin and a few other executives over allegations that they bribed unnamed government officials in India to receive renewable power supply contracts. The US regulators alleged that they did not disclose this bribery when subsequently raising funds in the US from American investors, thus committing securities fraud. The case is pending in a US court.
Earlier, the Indian conglomerate denied wrongdoing. Late in January, Adani Green Energy clarified that the allegations and court proceedings were initiated against its executives, and not against the company itself.
Norges’ decision comes just a month after lawyers representing the US SEC and the Adani executives agreed on a structured timeline for making submissions before a US district court, setting the stage for a potentially protracted legal battle.
Adani Green Energy’s shares closed 1.77% lower at ₹948.2 on the BSE on Friday compared to a 1.17% decline in the benchmark Sensex. The scrip has lost over 7% so far this year against a drop of over 4% in Sensex.
Besides Adani Green Energy, the Norwegian fund held a 0.05% stake, worth $3.2 million, in Adani Total Gas Ltd as of 31 December.
Even Berkshire Hathaway excluded
Norges has strict investment criteria dictated by Norwegian law.
The sovereign wealth fund is barred from investing in companies that, among other things, produce or sell tobacco or cannabis products, engage with coal mining or coal-based energy production, are part of the nuclear weapons ecosystem, or are accused of human rights violations. Such criteria have it exclude even the likes of Warren Buffett-controlled Berkshire Hathaway Inc. for its investments in coal or coal-based energy.
Its exclusion list contains 16 Indian companies, including Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, ITC Ltd, Vedanta Ltd, Coal India Ltd, NTPC Ltd and Tata Power Ltd.