The National Pension Service, the state-run operator of pension funds, will pour 10 trillion won ($8.75 billion) this year into buying shares of domestically traded companies, including Samsung Electronics, its chief investment officer said Tuesday.

Kang Myoun-wook, the NPS chief investment officer, said in an interview with a local media outlet that the nation’s largest institutional investor would use 20 percent of fresh funds accumulated, or around 50 trillion won, raised annually for domestic stocks.

As of end-November last year, NPS held assets valued at 545 trillion won.

According to its current investment portfolio, 99 trillion won, or around 18 percent of the total, has been invested in domestic stocks, he added. The NPS has been keeping the portion of its stock exposure at around 20 percent.

“We are able to invest in domestic stocks because the amount of the fund rises (annually),” he said, without giving specifics on investment plans. But Samsung Electronics appears to be the NPS’ priority.

“Money will be invested evenly in large caps as well as mid- and small cap issues,” he said. “The NPS will have to buy more of Samsung Electronics, given its high investment return last year.”

In 2016, the NPS posted a 5.6 percent return from stock investments, in no small part because of Samsung Electronics’ share rally. The pension fund has been increasing its stake in the tech giant, from 8.13 percent in the first quarter to 9.03 percent as of the end of December. The share value of Samsung Electronics rose nearly 50 percent last year. On Jan. 4, 2016, Samsung Electronics’ share price closed at 1,205,000 won. On Dec. 30, it was 1,802,000.

The chief investment official said that the fund plans to achieve 0.25 percentage points higher return from domestic stocks investment over last year’s 5.6 percent.

The NPS is the world’s third-largest pension operator.

As of Jan. 10 this year, the state pension fund operator owned 5 percent or more of 285 companies.

While the NPS’ decision is to be welcomed by the listed companies, the pension fund has been facing a barrage of criticism for backing Samsung Group’s controversial merger of two units in September 2015.

Despite strong opposition from overseas investors, NPS supported the deal between then-Samsung C&T Corp. and Cheil Industries, widely seen as a path for Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong to increase his power over the group.

Moon Hyung-pyo, chairman of the NPS, was arrested by special prosecutors late last year over suspicions that he pressured the pension fund to support the deal when he was welfare minister in 2015.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)