[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s National Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund by assets, has filed a damage suit against Volkswagen in a German court over the auto giant’s emissions scandal, it said on Sept. 30.

“We joined a class action suit against Volkswagen as we saw huge losses from equity investments in Volkswagen due to the diesel-emissions manipulation,” an NPS official said.

NPS, which held 26.7 billion won (US$24.17 million) worth of preferred shares in Volkswagen as of the end of 2015, accused the automaker of providing “incorrect information” to investors. 




After the emission rigging scandal erupted in September 2015, Volkswagen’s share price has been on a freefall and is still struggling to recover.

The pension fund said it is discussing the level of reimbursement with other parties participating in the collective lawsuit.

Volkswagen faces a combined 8.2 billion euros (US$9.20 billion) in damages claims from investors over its emissions scandal in the legal district where the carmaker is based, a German court said last week.

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