NPS announced that it had sold the HSBC building in the Canary Wharf financial district in London to the Qatar Investment Authority on December 5. (image: Nick Garrod/flickr)
SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – The Korean National Pension Service (NPS) recently sold its HSBC headquarters building in London, netting a total of 960 billion won (US$868 million) in dividends and trading profits.
On December 14, the pension service that manages funds worth 568.2 trillion won (US$514.1 billion) announced that it had sold the HSBC building in the Canary Wharf financial district in London to the Qatar Investment Authority on December 5. With the transaction, the NPS earned a total of 960 billion won, including 419 billion won in dividends and 541 billion won from the sale. Its ROI went up to 165 percent with the investment.
The fourth largest pension fund in the world began overseas investment in 2005, and in 2009 it aggressively pursued overseas assets including real estate. At that time, the pension fund purchased the building at a 30 percent discount from its peak price.
An official at the NPS said, “Financial institutions suffering from the global crisis in 2008 flooded the market with good assets at lower prices, but there were not many investors in the market at that time. We considered the crisis as a good investment opportunity and purchased the building.”
Currently, the NPS has 97.2 trillion won (US$97 billion) in overseas assets.
Choi Kwang, chairperson and CEO of the NPS, said, “The purchase and sale of the HSBC headquarters building is a good example of our investment diversification and global investment, to make mid and long-term profits and to manage risks. In this increasingly competitive market, we will continue to expand our overseas investment.”
By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)
