The New Zealand Super Fund has ended its legal action against the Bank of Portugal to recover its investment in Banco Espirito Santo (BES).

The decision follows last year’s UK Supreme Court judgment denying an appeal on jurisdiction taken against the Portuguese bank Novo Banco, a recent decision of the BES liquidation committee to subordinate the Fund’s claim and a pragmatic assessment of the costs and benefits to the Fund of continuing.

CEO Matt Whineray says while the Guardians believes the action has sound legal merit, the decision to stop pursing the case is a purely rational one based on the efficient use of the Guardians’ resources and capital, which would be better expended on investing in New Zealand’s future.

The investment was written down to zero in Fund’s 2015 accounts and represented a reduction in returns in that financial year of 0.69 percent.

Since its inception the Fund has generated average annual returns of 10.15 percent. Previous NZ Super Fund disclosures relating to Oak Finance are available here.

ENDS