Norway expels 17 tobacco producers from SWF

OSLO Jan 19 (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund has excluded 17 tobacco producers from its $450 billion portfolio for ethical reasons, the government said on Tuesday.

"The divestment of shares in these companies has now been completed," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The central bank-managed fund follows ethical guidelines set by the government and in the past has excluded companies that produce nuclear arms or cluster munitions, damage the environment or abuse human rights or workers rights.

The excluded companies are: Alliance One International (AOI.N), Altria Group (MO.N), British American Tobacco Plc (BATS.L) and British American Tobacco BHD, Gudang Garam tbk PT (GGRM.JK), Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT.L), ITC (ITC.BO), Japan Tobacco (2914.T), KT&G Corp (033780.KS), Lorillard (LO.N), Philip Morris International (PM.N) and Philip Morris Cr AS, Reynolds American Inc (RAI.N), Souza Cruz (CRUZ3.SA), Swedish Match (SWMA.ST), Universal Corp (UVV.N) and Vector Group Ltd (VGR.N).

(Reporting by Oslo newsrooom)