Bloomberg | 6 March 2026
Bolloré companies excluded by Norway fund on human rights issues
By Benoit Berthelot and Sheridan Prasso
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has excluded companies tied to billionaire Vincent Bolloré from its investment portfolio, citing “human rights violations,” after a review and following reports of abuses at rubber plantations he co-owns in Africa.
Bolloré and his family are the largest shareholders in Bolloré SE and its top holding, Compagnie de l’Odet SE, both of which were added to the fund’s exclusion list on Feb. 26. They co-own Socfin Group, an archipelago of rubber and palm oil plantations scattered across 10 countries in Africa and Southeast Asia. The other owner is Belgian businessman Hubert Fabri.
Working conditions at the plantations have been under scrutiny. Last April, Bloomberg News published an investigation based on firsthand accounts of sexual harassment and violence from multiple women working at Socfin operations in Liberia and Ghana. Audits documented similar allegations, including those of rape, at the company’s properties in Sierra Leone and Cameroon.
Socfin, which has been a rubber supplier for Michelin, Continental AG and Bridgestone Corp., announced changes to its policies against sexual violence and harassment last July.
The Norwegian fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, which has a $2.2 trillion portfolio, is seen as an influential investor. The fund held $90 million worth of shares in Bolloré SE at the end of 2024 and no longer owned shares at the end of 2025.
Representatives for Bolloré and Compagnie de l’Odet didn’t reply to requests for comment. Representatives for the Norwegian fund also didn’t respond.
The fund said in its report that its board started an “ownership dialogue” with the Bolloré companies in 2024 on their “management of human rights risks, sexual violence, harassment and labor rights abuses” at Socfin. After the review, the board decided last year to exclude the companies, based on the recommendation of its Council on Ethics, according to the report.
More than 30 nonprofit organizations and community groups advocating on behalf of people living near Socfin plantations welcomed the action. “For too long, the Bolloré Group has claimed it’s not responsible for the abuses we face around the Socfin plantations, and as a result the abuses have continued,” Félicité Ngo Bissou of the Association des Femmes Riveraines de Socapalm Edéa in Cameroon said in a collective statement Thursday. “It’s about time that investors take action against Socfin and Bolloré.”