Norway invests in Paris property

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which is worth $584bn (£363bn), said it was spending $1bn buying prime Paris property from the French insurer AXA and was eyeing real estate in Germany next.

The sovereign-wealth fund, known locally as the oil fund because it invests oil and gas revenue for future Norwegians, said it would pay €703m (£633m) for 50 per cent of seven properties, mainly office blocks in business districts of western and central Paris, including in the Champs-Élysées area.

Last year, in its first-ever property deal, the fund agreed to buy a 25 per cent stake in the Crown Estate's Regent Street properties in London for £448m.