| The headquarters of the National Pension Service in Jeonju / Yonhap |
South Korea's state pension fund lowered its exposure to large cap and other domestic shares in 2021 in an apparent bid to boost returns and diversify its portfolio, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.
The National Pension Service (NPS) held stakes of 5 percent or more in 265 companies listed on the country's major and secondary bourses as of the end of 2021, down 10 from a year earlier, according to CEO Score.
Compared with two years earlier, the number was down 49.
Last year, the NPS cut its holdings of shares in 216 corporations, while raising its stakes in 103 firms.
The state pension provider has announced plans to cut the ratio of South Korean shares to its total investment to 15 percent by 2025.
Last year, the NPS increased holdings of shares in pharmaceutical and bio companies, while reducing stakes in IT, electric and electronics firms.
As of the end of 2021, the value of NPS stakes in the 265 large cap firms came to 154.6 trillion won ($130 billion), down 5.9 percent from a year earlier.
The NPS saw the value of its shares in global tech titan Samsung Electronics drop 21.4 percent, or 11.2 trillion won, to 41.2 trillion won. It was the biggest decline among the large caps decreasing to 8.69 percent from 10.7 percent.
In contrast, the state pension operator bought the largest amount of shares in Samsung Biologics, South Korea's top pharmaceutical firm, with its purchase reaching 3.4 trillion won, according to CEO Score.
The NPS had more than 918 trillion won in assets under management as of the end of October 2021, making it one of the largest pension operators in the world. (Yonhap)