Norway Averted $230 Billion Tech Sale With Oil Fund Ethics Pause

Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said politicians suspended ethics rules governing the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund after the divestment of Caterpillar Inc. stock stoked fears of a firesale of tech holdings, worth as much as $230 billion.

The move by the $2.1 trillion fund came after ethics advisers pushed it to sell shares in Caterpillar Inc. in August because its bulldozers are used in the war in Gaza. That risked setting a “template,” Stoltenberg said in an interview Monday in Oslo. The rules could have led to the fund being told to sell off its most profitable shares.

His ...