SEOUL, Korea - National Pension Service, South Korea’s biggest investor, said it’s in talks to buy into a U.S. oil pipeline to diversify its portfolio.
The Korea Economic Daily reported that the pension fund was picked as a preferred bidder to buy Chevron Corp.’s 23.44 percent interest in Colonial Pipeline Co. for about 1 trillion won ($847 million).
National Pension denied the company was picked as the preferred bidder. Colonial’s other stockholders have rights of first refusal whenever a block of stock is on the market. Colonial stockholders would be polled one by one to ask if they wished to buy the block. If none of the other stockholders was interested, Chevron could sell the block to National Pension Service.
South Korea has said pension and sovereign wealth funds may invest in overseas energy assets as Asia’s fourth-largest crude importer competes for natural resources with China and India.
Chevron Midstream Investments holds Chevron's 23.44 percent stake in Colonial, which transports fuels from refineries in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to marketing terminals, according to Colonial’s website.
National Pension, which had 295 trillion won in assets as of June, is investing in overseas stocks and real-estate from Australia to the U.K. to diversify from domestic fixed-income holdings. The fund plans to boost its overseas investments to at least 20 percent of assets by 2015, from about 11 percent now.
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