Ferd owner and former ethics chief Johan H. Andresen during the conference “Resources Misallocated” at Astrup Fearnley Museet. Here in a pleasant conversation with Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB.
Tobacco heir Johan H. Andresen used to determine which shares the Government Pension Fund Global (Oljefondet) could not own, on the basis of ethics. After eight years as chair of the Council on Ethics (Etikkrådet) in 2023, he declined a third term with ethics. On Tuesday, as the largest shareholder in Elopak, he sold 11.5 million shares at NOK 48.50 per share. On Friday evening, the company reported weakening results. On Monday, trading opened at NOK 35, down 27 per cent. Market participants are outraged.
Ferd’s divestment of Elopak shares three days before the company warned of weaker results ahead has triggered reactions among a number of market participants. Ferd is the investment company of the tobacco heir Johan H. Andresen. Ferd is the largest shareholder in the carton manufacturer Elopak. Ferd brought the company to the stock exchange in June 2021. And Ferd is represented on Elopak’s board.
On Tuesday 17 March, after market close at 18:06, a stock exchange announcement stated that Ferd had sold 11.5 million Elopak shares at NOK 48.50 per share – a transaction of NOK 558 million. Ferd thereby reduced its shareholding from 119.5 to 108 million shares. Ferd still owns 40 per cent of the company.
On Friday 20 March, after closing time, two stock exchange announcements were issued. First, at 17:43, one stating that the company was launching a share buyback programme. This normally has a positive effect on the share price. Ergo, there was reason for optimism for Monday among those who had bought the share that same Friday. But three minutes later, a new stock exchange announcement followed. It was not as pleasant.
“The preliminary consolidated accounts as at the end of February indicate a weaker than expected development in revenues and EBITDA (earnings before depreciation and amortisation, ed. note) following a year of strong financial results and strategic progress in 2025,” it read.
On Monday 23 March, the share opened at NOK 35, down 27 per cent.
The share price of Elopak over the past week (NOK). Source: Oslo Børs.
“Row, row to the fishing skerry”
People are furious with Tobacco-Andresen. And it may appear that both the company and Ferd understood that reactions would follow. For during Sunday, clarifications were issued, which is unusual.
On Sunday 22 March at 14:21, the company announced:
«Reference is made to Elopak ASA (“Elopak”, Oslo Børs ticker: ELO) stock exchange announcements on Tuesday 17 March 2026 regarding trading carried out by a closely associated party of a primary insider person and trading update for the first quarter of 2026 on Friday 20 March 2026. The company wishes to provide the following clarifications: On Monday 16 March, Ferd’s planned sale of Elopak shares was approved in accordance with Elopak’s internal processes. On Friday 20 March, Elopak obtained insight into the expected results for the first quarter of 2026. The company immediately issued a trading update in accordance with the Securities Trading Act § 5-12 and MAR.»
(MAR = Market Abuse Regulation = Markedsmisbruksforordningen)
– Row, row to the fishing skerry, say actors Document has spoken with. They do not trust that this came as a surprise, and believe that Andresen and Ferd were aware of the problems when they sold on Tuesday.
The announcement was followed up by an identical message a quarter of an hour later the same Sunday.
The company, through chair Dag Mejdell, who is also chair of another Ferd-controlled company (Mestergruppen), insists that no one in Ferd could have known about the weak development in results, nor Ferd’s representative on Elopak’s board, Manuel Arbiol.
But this is not credible, according to market participants Document has spoken with.
Eight years with ethics was enough
In the period 2015–2023, Tobacco-Andresen was chair of the Council on Ethics (Etikkrådet). This council is to ensure that the Government Pension Fund Global (Oljefondet) follows ethical rules in its investments, and avoids ownership in companies that contravene the Council on Ethics’ standards.
During Andresen’s tenure, an increasing number of shares were excluded on ethical grounds. At the same time, the investment universe, and thus the fund’s return opportunities, were restricted. When Andresen assumed office, 60–70 shares were excluded following the Council on Ethics’ recommendations. By the end of 2023, the list had increased to 92–100 shares. The reasons for exclusion were climate, weapons, tobacco, and corruption.
After eight years in the chair of the Council on Ethics, Andresen declined a new four-year term with ethics. If Document is to allow itself to be counterfactual and Andresen had nevertheless accepted, he would today have been chair of the Council on Ethics, and thus the leading authority on what not only the Government Pension Fund Global (Oljefondet) should avoid in its investments, but also what all other Norwegian equity funds should avoid, as they align themselves with the Council on Ethics’ recommendations.
“Now it is time to speak out”
However, when it comes to ethical questions, Tobacco-Andresen still wishes to have a say. He demonstrated this last autumn, when Minister of Finance Jens Stoltenberg intervened after the Government Pension Fund Global (Oljefondet) had divested from the construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar, following pressure from the Council on Ethics.
Andresen wrote an angry op-ed in E24 with phrases such as “Now it is time to speak out” and “This may mean the end of an international institution that is far more important than most people think”, and described the move as “dramatic for the Council on Ethics as an institution, and certainly the end of its independence”. He did not stop there and continued with “In short, I consider the argumentation for gutting the Council on Ethics, and thereby weakening the credibility of the entire responsible management of which they are a part, to be exceptionally weak”, as he wrote at the time.