A near-$600 million stake in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) was sold by a major European institutional investor last year in large part due to boss Elon Musk’s disputed bonus package.
ABP, Europe’s largest pension fund, sold its entire stake of 2.8 million shares in the third quarter of the year, local financial newspaper Financieele Dagblad reported at the weekend. The shares were worth €571 million ($584 million).
A spokesperson for Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, which is the pension fund for approximately three million Dutch civil servants, said there was “a problem” with the €56 billion pay package, adding that the fund’s decision reflected consideration around responsible investment requirements, as well as costs and financial return.
The fund had voted against Musk’s “exceptionally high” package at the electric vehicle company’s AGM in June and Financieele Dagblad noted that poor working conditions at the company were also among the reasons the Tesla stake was sold.
Musk’s pay package was again blocked last month by a US judge but has been backed by the company’s shareholders.
Since Musk forged ties with US President-elect Donald Trump in recent months and the Tesla boss’s attempts at meddling in North American and European politics, a number of Dutch companies and private individuals are experiencing “Tesla shame” and questioning ownership of the company’s cars, the newspaper also said.
Netherland electricity group Alliander, where 25% of company cars are Teslas, is having second thoughts, the company’s head of social responsibility said recently in a social media post.