[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s national pension fund, the world’s third-largest with assets of more than 520 trillion won (US$446 billion), expanded its equity holdings of the next “big thing” -- augmented reality and artificial intelligence -- last year, data showed on Aug. 11.

The National Pension Service scooped up its share in foreign companies developing the next-generation technology and gadgets such as Ninetndo and Google last year, according to data released by the fund. 

In a bid to bolster returns by betting on the promising ICT industry, the NPS increased its stake in Nintendo, which produced the global smash hit “Pokemon Go” mobile game, to 0.15 percent worth 10.2 billion won as of end -2015, up from 0.06 percent in 2014.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, ranked highest on NPS’ overseas equity holding list with stocks worth 908 billion won, combining Alphabet Class C and Class A. Alphabet Class A stock has risen more than 17 percent over the past year.

Allocation for all four top ICT players in the US -- Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook – has been boosted. The pension fund more than doubled its investment in Amazon stock to 617 billion won in 2015 from 239 billion won a year earlier.

By sector, stocks in the IT industry accounted for 16 percent of the NPS’ total global equity portfolio worth 69.3 trillion won. It is the third-largest part of the pool, followed by financial sector and energy, metals and others.
 




By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)