National Pension Service to Secure 1.2503 Trillion KRW from Samsung Electronics Dividends

Holding Value Also Soars to Nearly 20 Trillion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] As Samsung Electronics announced a shareholder return policy including a special dividend, the National Pension Service (NPS) is set to receive a dividend windfall amounting to 1.2 trillion KRW.

On the 28th, Samsung Electronics decided to pay a special dividend of 1,578 KRW per share, and combined with the regular dividend for the fourth quarter of last year, it plans to pay common shareholders 1,932 KRW per share and preferred shareholders 1,933 KRW per share as of the end of 2020.

Accordingly, the National Pension Service will receive 1.2339 trillion KRW in dividends through common shares and 16.4 billion KRW through preferred shares. The total amount reaches 1.2503 trillion KRW. As of the end of last year, the NPS held 638,687,780 common shares of Samsung Electronics, accounting for a 10.7% stake. It also held 8,499,833 preferred shares.

The National Pension Service also earned substantial profits from the rise in Samsung Electronics' stock price. The value of NPS's Samsung Electronics holdings increased from 34.996 trillion KRW at the beginning of last year to 54.6716 trillion KRW as of the previous day, growing by nearly 20 trillion KRW.

There are also forecasts that this dividend highlights the need to pay more attention to Samsung Electronics' preferred shares. Kim Sunwoo, a researcher at Meritz Securities, said, "The most important investment point of Samsung Electronics is that the interests of related parties and general shareholders are aligned, which will be the foundation for re-rating (value reassessment). Especially, since a reduction in the price gap based on the preferred shares' dividend yield advantage is expected, it is necessary to focus on preferred shares."