Press release from the Nobel Foundation

The Nobel Foundation’s capital has grown by one billion Swedish kronor since 2011

28 April 2016 View in Swedish
Nobel Prize medal

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: N. Adachi

The Nobel Foundation’s 2015 financial statements were presented today. The Nobel Foundation’s total return on equity amounted to 7.7 per cent during 2015. Since 2011 the Foundation’s invested capital has grown from SEK 3 billion to more than SEK 4 billion. In addition, the public entities in the Nobel sphere approved new Board members. Sara Mazur, Ericsson AB, is joining the Board of Nobel Media, Anna Ekström, the National Agency for Education, is a new Board member of the Nobel Museum and Jon Ola Sand, European Broadcasting Union, is joining the Board of Nobel Peace Prize – Research & Information.

 At the meeting on Friday, April 29, 2016, of the Trustees of the Nobel Foundation, the Foundation’s 2015 financial statements were presented. The market value of the Nobel Foundation’s total invested capital amounted to SEK 4,065 m (3,869) at the end of 2015. Total return on equity was 7.7 (15.8) per cent during the year. Since 2011, the Nobel Foundation’s invested capital has grown from SEK 3 billion to just over SEK 4 billion at the end of 2015.

– “The growth of the Nobel Foundation’s invested capital by one billion kronor between 2011 and 2015 reflects generally good performance in financial markets, but we have also performed well in relation to comparable market participants”, says Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.

In 2012, the Nobel Foundation established an Investment Committee including independent experts. It works within an asset management framework established by the Foundation’s Board of Directors. The Committee proposes changes in management strategy and makes decisions about the allocation between different asset classes and managers, as well as about apportioning the Foundation’s assets between various continents and countries. Among the reasons for the positive performance of recent years is that a larger proportion of the Foundation’s capital has been invested in alternative assets, mainly hedge funds.

At the end of 2015, the market value of the Nobel Foundation’s portfolio capital – invested capital excluding directly owned properties – amounted to SEK 3,854 m (3,684). The market value of the Foundation’s equity increased by about SEK 196 m during the year and was SEK 4,038 m (3,842) at the end of 2015.

Return on portfolio capital was 7.3 (16.5) per cent during 2015. Portfolio capital was allocated among 44 per cent equities, 15 per cent fixed income assets and 41 per cent alternative assets at year-end.

The 2016 Nobel Prizes were set at SEK 8 m per prize by the Foundation’s Board of Directors, the same amount as last year. For information concerning the announcements of this year’s Nobel Prizes, please visit http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/prize_announcements/index.html.

In addition, Nobel Group Interests AB, the umbrella organisation for the public entities in the Nobel sphere, approved new Board members at the General Meetings of Nobel Media AB, Nobelmuseet AB and Nobel Peace Prize – Research & Information AS. Sara Mazur, Vice President and Head of Ericsson Research, is joining the Board of Nobel Media, Anna Ekström, Director General of the National Agency for Education, is a new Board member of the Nobel Museum and Jon Ola Sand is joining the Board of Nobel Peace Prize – Research & Information. Jon Ola Sand is the European Broadcasting Union’s Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest.

It is the task of the Trustees to appoint the Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation. At the April 29 meeting, Professor Thomas Perlmann was elected as a new member of the Board.

The Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation

  • Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin, Chairman
  • Professor Göran K. Hansson, Vice Chairman, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
  • Professor Thomas Perlmann (new member), Secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine
  • Professor Sara Danius, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy
  • Mrs Kaci Kullmann Five, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
  • Mr Tomas Nicolin, MSc
  • Dr Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation 

Deputy members

  • Professor Lars Bergström, Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
  • Professor Gunnar von Heijne (reelected), Secretary of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry 

 

Nobel Foundation

The Nobel Foundation is a private foundation established in 1900 on the basis of the will of Alfred Nobel and the founding statutes promulgated in connection with the will. Its primary purpose is to ensure that the intentions of the will of Alfred Nobel are fulfilled. The Foundation is responsible for ensuring that the assets made available for awarding the Nobel Prize are managed in such a way as to safeguard the economic base of the Prize in a long-term perspective and guarantee the independence of the prize-awarding institutions in their work of selecting Laureates. The Nobel Foundation is also entrusted with managing and carefully developing the trademarks and intangible assets that have been built up during the more than century-long history of the Nobel Prize.

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