[Exclusive] National Pension Service Sells Tesla Shares for Trillions in Profit

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] It has been confirmed that the National Pension Service (NPS) recently realized valuation gains worth trillions of won as an early investor in Tesla.

Ahn Hyo-jun, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the National Pension Service Fund Management Headquarters, recently stated regarding Tesla, which had drawn attention as a successful investment by the NPS, that "we have earned substantial profits and realized gains."

In an interview with Asia Economy on the 24th, Ahn revealed, "The National Pension Service began direct investments in Tesla from February 2013, before Tesla was included in the index, and from the second half of 2013, we also conducted entrusted investments."

This means that the NPS invested a significant amount in Tesla stocks several years ago, which have surged dramatically in recent years, and has completed large-scale profit realization. Regarding direct investments, profits were actively realized, while some investments such as index investments still hold unrealized gains.

Ahn added, "Overall, we realized gains except for about the benchmark level."

According to the stock holdings data recently reported by the National Pension Service to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as of the end of the third quarter of 2014, the NPS held Tesla shares worth $7.92 million (approximately 8.8 billion KRW).

At the end of the third quarter of 2014, Tesla’s stock price was $48.54. Applying the stock split in August last year and the current price as of February 24 ($742.02), the return over six and a half years approaches an astonishing 1,429%.

From 2016 to 2019, the NPS’s Tesla shareholding ratio was consistently maintained at around 0.42% to 0.44%. Assuming the 2019 year-end shareholding ratio (0.42%) has remained unchanged until recently, the current valuation of Tesla shares held by the NPS amounts to approximately 3.6 trillion KRW.

If the profit realization was completed last year, it is estimated that the NPS’s valuation gains would be close to 2 to 3 trillion KRW.

According to Tesla stock investment status submitted by Rep. Jo Myung-hee of the People Power Party on the 15th, the NPS held 584,796 shares as of July 2020, representing a 0.32% stake.

Meanwhile, the National Pension Service reportedly achieved a 9.7% return last year through domestic and overseas stock and bond investments. According to the pension fund settlement results, the net assets of the National Pension Fund at the end of last year stood at 833.7 trillion KRW, an increase of 97.1 trillion KRW compared to 2019.

Investment income was recorded at 72.1 trillion KRW. This amount is approximately 1.4 times the insurance premium income collected from National Pension subscribers during the year (51.2 trillion KRW) and 2.8 times the pension benefit payments (25.6 trillion KRW).