NPS bets on Samsung Electro-Mechanics, sells POSCO stocks in Q4

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), the world’s third-largest pension fund, saw the amount of listed local shares it owns rise in the fourth quarter of 2023 amid the strong stock market at the year's end. The state-run pension fund bought more Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. shares while selling some POSCO Holdings Inc. stocks in the last quarter.

NPS owns a 5% or greater stake each in 283 listed firms as of last Wednesday, according to its disclosure on the Korea Exchange (KRX). The combined shares are valued at 133.83 trillion won ($101.4 billion) as of Jan. 10.

Stocks it holds in the 283 companies jumped 3.21%, or 4.16 trillion won from end-September of last year to Jan. 10, compared with the main Kospi’s 3.12% increase in the same period.

NPS’ assets under management topped 1,000 trillion won as of Dec. 31, 2023. It allocates about 13% of the assets to domestic listed shares.

The pension fund increased its holdings in Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Group’s electronics component arm, from 8.80% to 10.62% in the fourth quarter. The firm’s stock price jumped 11.3% to 147,800 won from end-September to Jan. 10.

NPS cut its ownership in POSCO Holdings, the holding firm of steel giant POSCO Group, from 7.72% to 6.71% in the last quarter. The company’s stock price declined 13.4% to 450,500 won as of Jan. 10 on investor concerns about the falling price of lithium, a cathode material.

Samsung Electronics Co. stock topped in terms of valuation among NPS’ holdings. The pension fund owns a 7.68% stake at a 33.76 trillion won valuation in the world’s top memory chipmaker as of Jan. 10.

NPS holds a 7.90% stake at a 7.68 trillion won valuation in SK Hynix Inc., the second largest memory chipmaker on the globe, and a 5.78% ownership with a 5.56 trillion won valuation in battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. as of the same day.

The pension giant holds a 9.34% stake in online portal giant Naver Corp. and a 7.86% stake in automaker Hyundai Motor Co., respectively, with a more than 3 trillion won valuation in each company. The pension fund owns 7.17% in Hyundai’s sister firm Kia Corp. and 5.60% in Samsung Biologics Co., respectively, with a more than 2.5 trillion won valuation in each firm.   

NPS’ holdings in each of the 21 firms are valued at more than 1 trillion won. The ownership in the firms accounts for 62% of the total stock valuation of the pension fund’s domestic shareholdings.  

During the fourth quarter of last year, NPS added 11 stocks to the list of companies it has 5% or more holdings in.

Among the 11 stocks are shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean Co., wind power plant builder SK Oceanplant Co., chemicals firm SK Discovery Co., chip inspection equipment maker Gigavis Co., auto body assembly solutions maker Wooshin Systems Co., medical artificial intelligence developer JLK Inc. and aesthetic equipment maker Won Tech Co.

The pension fund dropped its holdings in 10 firms to less than 5% in the last quarter. Among the companies are chemicals maker Hyosung Chemical Corp., construction firm TY Holdings Co., car-sharing platform company Socar Inc., medical laser producer Jeisys Medical Inc., biotech Pharmicell Co. and contract drug manufacturer ST Pharm Co.

Write to Tae-Ung Bae at btu104@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.