(Repeats to add FUND to story slug)
By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche
OSLO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Investors should expect more Norwegian companies to go public in the near future as they search for capital to grow their business, the head of Norway's largest domestic-focused investment fund said on Monday.
"We will see more companies coming to the stock exchange now, new companies coming and seeing some capital there," Olaug Svarva, managing director of Folketrygdfondet, said in an interview at the Reuters Nordic Investment Summit.
The state-owned fund, which has some $25 billion under management, invests mostly in Norwegian bonds and stocks, including all the major companies in the Nordic country such as Statoil and telecoms group Telenor.
"Given the return you get on the fixed income markets, the stock market still looks interesting - even though we have had more than a doubling (in value) over the last five years," Svarva said at the summit, held at the Reuters office in Oslo.
She expected Norwegian companies to be generally averse to risks as the world economy slowly picks up from the doldrums, however.
"I think the companies will generally be careful with their balance sheets and their risk profile," she said.
Folketrygdfondet has investments in the other Nordic countries too, accounting for some 15 percent of its portfolio.
The fund is separate from Norway's $780-billion sovereign wealth fund, the so-called oil fund, which invests exclusively in stocks, bonds and property outside Norway.
Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter @Reuters_Summits . (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
