挪威石油基金作出了積極表率

When the quiet one in the room suddenly shouts, people tend to listen. On that basis, the reserved and thoughtful Norwegians who run the country’s $850bn oil fund should get a decent hearing next time they visit Wolfsburg, having declared they will sue Volkswagen over the emissions scandal.

當房間裏默不出聲的那個人突然大聲呼喊時，人們通常會傾聽。因此，考慮到掌管着挪威8500億美元石油基金的那些保守而心細的挪威人已經宣佈，將就排放醜聞起訴大衆汽車(Volkswagen)，他們下一次訪問沃爾夫斯堡時說的話應該會受到充分重視。

Class-action suits by investors are an oddly circular way to extract money from the pot they themselves own and should not generally be encouraged. The Norwegian action needs to be seen, though, in the light of VW’s peculiarly dysfunctional corporate governance and the wider strategy of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.

股東對自己持股的公司發起集體訴訟，是以一種詭異的迂迴方式從他們自己的錢罐子裏拿錢，這種做法一般不應被鼓勵。不過，看待挪威石油基金這一舉動時，我們需要考慮到大衆汽車極度失靈的公司治理以及這家全球最大主權財富基金的整體戰略。

VW presents a special case for shareholders to try more aggressive tactics because it has a weak supervisory board — the body that is supposed to hold management to account — and a habit of ignoring minority investors. It is hard to shift the Porsche and Piëch families and the state of Lower Saxony, which control the company with an arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. The oil fund has tried conventional means. It meets regularly with VW and broke its usual silence in a public letter to the company in 2009, criticising deals that secured the main shareholders’ control. Its backing for a rare lawsuit shows its continued frustration.

大衆汽車爲股東嘗試更激進策略提供了一個特殊案例，因爲該公司的監事會（理論上應負責對管理層問責）比較弱勢，並且該公司一貫忽視中小投資者。控股大衆汽車的波爾舍(Porsche)和皮希(Piëch)家族、德國下薩克森州(Lower Saxony)以及卡塔爾主權財富基金旗下機構，是很難改變的。挪威石油基金此前嘗試過常規手段。該基金與大衆汽車舉行定期會議，2009年還曾打破一貫的沉默，發表了一封給大衆汽車的公開信，對一些確保了主要股東控制權的交易提出批評。此次該基金支持一起罕見的集體訴訟，體現了它持續的不滿。

Sovereign funds and some large private institutional investors could still learn from the other tactics the Norwegians are using to engage actively with the companies where they have a stake.

挪威石油基金還在使用其他一些策略加大對自己持股的公司的參與，這些策略也是各主權基金以及部分大型私人機構投資者可以借鑑的。

The scale of the fund, which owns an average of 1.3 per cent of every listed company, has spurred it to take a more active ownership role. Its template is similar to that of Calpers, the influential Californian teachers’ pension fund that uses its $292bn of investments to campaign on governance and green issues.

挪威石油基金在每家上市公司平均持股份額達到1.3%，如此龐大的規模促使該基金扮演更積極的股東角色。該基金的模板與美國加州公務人員退休基金(Calpers)類似。後者是一家頗具影響力的養老基金，它利用其2920億美元投資，開展圍繞治理和環保問題的運動。

Last year, the oil fund started revealing its voting intentions, issuing “position papers” that set out the principles on which it is acting and, following a Nordic model, joining nomination committees of companies where it has stakes. This year, apart from its focus on VW, it has also launched a campaign against excessive executive pay.

去年，挪威石油基金開始公佈其投票意向，發佈“立場書”陳述它所依據的行動原則，並遵循北歐模式，加入自己持股的公司的提名委員會。今年，除了關注大衆汽車以外，該基金還發起了反對高管過高薪酬的運動。

Some shareholders may freeride on the Norwegians’ investment in activism but the fund operates with a very lean engagement team. Helping lazier peers is a risk worth running in the interests of the fund as a whole. Index funds, which also have to hold a wide portfolio, albeit on a smaller scale, should also recognise that activism is the main lever they have to improve the performance of the companies whose shares they are obliged to own.

挪威石油基金積極行動之後，一些股東可能會搭便車；但該基金負責持股公司參與事務的團隊人數很少。爲了該基金的整體利益，幫助懶惰的同行是值得冒的風險。指數型基金同樣必須持有廣泛的產品組合——雖然持有規模較小；這些基金也應認識到，要想改善他們被動持股的那些公司的表現，積極行動是他們所擁有的主要手段。

Active engagement is not just about shouting, however. In February, the oil fund revealed the corporate proposals it had opposed at annual meetings. It also pointed out it had not declared its voting intentions in advance of annual meetings at nine companies because they changed their stance in response to behind-the-scenes encounters. Sometimes, “softly softly” is still the best approach.

不過，積極參與不只是要大聲呼喊。2月份，挪威石油基金公佈了其在各個年度會議上反對過的公司建議。該基金還指出，它在9家公司的年度會議前未公佈自己的投票意向，因爲他們根據私下接觸的情況改變了立場。有時候，“靈活柔軟”仍是最好的辦法。

Even so, VW is a good counter-example of what happens if heavyweight funds stay quiet for too long. If shareholders had protested about its byzantine governance earlier, they might have succeeded in keeping the carmaker on the road.

即便如此，大衆汽車仍是個很好的反面教材，揭示瞭如果重倉持股的基金保持沉默太久會發生什麼。如果股東們早一點對大衆汽車的繁複治理提出反對，他們或許可以成功地讓這家汽車製造商保持在正軌上運行。

Sovereign wealth funds are a disparate bunch. Some are rigidly controlled by the state, some answer to citizens, others to ruling families. Seeking consensus between them is even harder than herding cats, according to one person who works with the funds, because they “aren’t even the same species”. All could, however, learn from Norway’s oil fund that with power comes responsibility.

不同主權財富基金差異巨大。有些受到國家的嚴格控制，有些對公民負責，還有一些對統治家族負責。一位在主權財富基金工作的人士表示，在不同主權財富基金中尋求共識比“牧貓”還難，因爲它們“甚至不都同屬於一個物種”。不過，所有的主權基金都可以從挪威石油基金身上學到一點：權力越大，責任越重。