General information
Norfund is the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries. Its head office is located at Klingenberggata 4 in Oslo.
Norfund’s purpose is to create jobs, improve living conditions and support the transition to net zero climate gasemissions by investing in enterprises that promote sustainable development. Norfund’s overarching mandate is defined in the Norfund Act of 1997. The Act stipulates that Norfund’s purpose is to contribute equity and other risk capital, extend loans and provide guarantees for the development of sustainable business and industry in developing countries. The aim is to establish viable, profitable activities that would not otherwise be initiated because of the high risk involved.
Norfund may also perform other management tasks assigned to it by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Foreign Office – FO); see Section 1 fourth paragraph of the Norfund Act. Norfund is allocated resources for its activities through grants from the state. Resources are additionally allocated through surplus capital. Norfund is to invest in its own name in appropriate financial instruments such as equity, loans, guarantees etc.
As of 2024, Norfund has two additional mandates:
With effect from 2022, Norfund manages the Climate Investment Fund for Renewable Energy in Developing Countries (the CIF) on behalf of the Foreign Office, pursuant to instructions for management. Norfund’s object is to contribute to reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions by investing in renewable energy in developing countries. Independent accounts are also prepared for the CIF.
On behalf of the Foreign Office, Norfund also manages the Investment Fund for Ukraine (since 2024). The object of this fund is to contribute to the development of sustainable business and industry and job creation in Ukraine.
Norfund additionally enhances development effects through the Frontier Facility (FF) scheme. The scheme was established in 2019 through an agreement with the Foreign Office on project development and risk capital. The scheme is intended to enable Norfund to make risk capital available to the most demanding markets, particularly in vulnerable states and the least developed countries (LDCs), where access to early phase risk capital is limited.
Balance sheet and profit and loss items associated with the CIF and FF are presented separately in the notes where relevant. Transactions concerning the CIF and FF are largely subject to the same accounting principles as Norfund generally. The Foreign Office has earmarked reserve capital that is to be used for the FF. Interest, fees, return and unused resources that revert to Norfund are to be used to top up the scheme. Profit and loss items associated with the scheme are recorded directly against Norfund’s reserve capital and are not shown as part of the surplus fund.