NPS overweight in beauty, food; chases APR, Samwha higher

The National Pension Service (NPS) has raised its bets on South Korean beauty and food companies in the second quarter of this year on expectations that the ongoing Hallyu, or Korean Wave, will continue to power their export growth.

The world’s third-largest pension scheme remained overweight in the shipbuilding industry, but reduced its stake in defense stocks such as LIG Nex1 Co. and Poongsan Corp.

APR Co., a skincare products maker that debuted on the Kospi in February this year, topped the list of stocks to which the NPS sharply raised its exposure.

NPS has bumped up its stake in APR from 4.85% to 11.20% as of the end of June, according to its quarterly report to the Financial Supervisory Service. The share price of the beauty technology company has surged by 30% since its initial public offering.

In a portfolio reshuffling of domestic stocks in the April-June quarter, the pension plan adjusted its exposure to 112 listed companies: 87 stocks traded on the Kospi and 25 Kosdaq-listed companies.

Among cosmetics makers, NPS’ holdings in the two top original development and design manufacturers (ODMs) in South Korea -- Cosmax Inc. and Kolmar Korea Co. – rose by 0.66 percentage points and 0.57 percentage points, respectively.

By contrast, it cashed out gains in Cosmecca Korea Co., reducing its stake in the cosmetics manufacturer to 8.67% from 12.09% in November of last year. Its share price has more than doubled since the start of this year.

NPS remains upbeat on Korean food makers. It has lifted its stake in CJ CheilJedang Corp. and Daesang Corp., each by 1.7 percentage points.

But it has slashed its holdings in Samyang Foods Co. by 1.24 percentage points after its share price had trebled since the start of 2024.

Among power companies, its top pick was Samwha Electric Co., to which NPS has upped its stake to 10.06% from 4.95% as of the end of March.

The power equipment manufacturer logged the largest-percentage gain among Kospi-listed stocks in the first half of this year.

Among shipbuilding-related companies, the pension fund raised its exposure to ship engine maker Hanwha Engine Co. by 2.81 percentage points to 12.92%.

Write to Sang-Gi Lee at remind@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.