Norway’s SWF Puts Malaysia’s Supermax Corp Under Observation
Posted on 06/26/2022
On June 15, 2022, Norges Bank revealed that the Executive Board has decided to place the company Supermax Corporation Berhad under observation for a period of two years. Supermax Corporation Berhad started as a trader and exporter of latex gloves in 1987 before venturing into manufacturing in 1989. It is Malaysia’s largest Own Brand Manufacturer and the world’s second largest producer of rubber gloves.
Norges Bank claims this is “due to unacceptable risk that the company contributes to serious violations of human rights, ref. the conduct-based criteria in section 4 (1) (a) of the Guidelines for the Observation and Exclusion of Companies from the Government Pension Fund Global. The decision is based on a recommendation from the Council on Ethics of 6 May 2022. In its recommendation, the Council on Ethics recommended excluding the company. According to section 6 (5) of the Guidelines, observation may be decided «when there is doubt as to whether the conditions for exclusion are met or as to future developments, or where observation is deemed appropriate for other reasons». Based on the recommendation, the Executive Board has made the assessment that the company’s announced measures to improve living and working conditions for migrant workers leave uncertainty about future developments. The period of observation gives the Council on Ethics the opportunity to find out whether the measures sufficiently reduce the risk of violations.”
Norges Bank Investment Management oversees Norway Government Pension Fund Global.
