Elon Musk’s divisive politics not at fault for Tesla losing support of major European investor

On Sunday, a Dutch newspaper revealed that the country’s public-sector pension fund ABP had liquidated its entire Tesla stake, which was last worth €571 million ($585 million), as part of its active portfolio shift. The news comes as Musk has divided the continent through his heavy-handed intervention into European politics, including calling this month for King Charles to dissolve the UK parliament and endorsing Germany’s far right in the upcoming general election.

Importantly, however, a spokesoman for ABP told Fortune the portfolio shift occurred prior to October, long before Musk began harnessing the full power of his social media platform in support of Europe’s anti-immigrant and anti-establishment parties that espouse many of the same values as Donald Trump.

In hindsight, the timing of the disposal wasn’t ideal. Tesla stock skyrocketed just two months later, following the election of Donald Trump, with shares hitting a record high in mid-December.

Nevertheless, ABP pointed out that the company is managed to achieve steady, long-term returns through the diversification of risk across dozens upon dozens of companies in each continent—and that is just its stock portfolio. Nearly 70% of its other assets are split up amongst corporate bonds, real estate, private equity and commodities, to name just a few instruments.

Moreover, its economic interest in Tesla, while sizeable, amounted to only about a tenth of what it currently has in other U.S. megacaps. 

For example, ABP owned €5.6 billion in the chip company Nvidia at the end of September, while its positions in Microsoft and Apple were even larger at €6.0 billion and €6.3 billion, respectively. It did own shares in Tesla’s far smaller rival Rivian, but this only totaled €16 million.

ABP opposed Musk’s gargantuan pay deal currently worth over $110 billion

With €533 billion in assets under management at last count, ABP is Europe’s largest publicly managed fund responsible for financing pay-as-you-go pension obligations for state employees and their families. As many as one in six Dutch citizens is currently receiving retirement benefits or will in the future from the scheme.

Confirming a report in leading Dutch business daily Het Financieele Dagblad, the ABP spokeswoman told Fortune the pension fund liquidated its entire stake in Tesla during the three-month period that ended on Sept. 30. 

Part of the reason for the liquidation was the fund’s opposition to Tesla redoing a shareholder vote in June on Musk’s pay package, dubbed the largest in human history by a U.S. litigant who successfully sued the company. At current prices of $388.50 per share, the embedded call options in the compensation package are worth more than $110 billion net of exercise price. 

Last January, the deal was nullified by a Delaware chancery judge in a case that is now proceeding to the state supreme court. While shareholders initially approved the pay deal in 2018, the Tesla board decided to re-run the vote last year in the hopes that a do-over would support its legal argument.

At the time of the June shareholder meeting, ABP called the scale of the pay package controversial. Its view is not all that unusual, given exorbitant compensation deals are frowned upon in egalitarian Europe, especially with regards to pension funds managed for state employees and trade unions.

Various reasons factored into decision

The spokeswoman couldn’t confirm whether ABP owned Tesla shares in 2018 and, if so, whether it approved the pay deal at the time. Data collected from SEC filings by Tesla shareholders indicated only one major U.S. fund flipped from favoring the original package to opposing it in June—a move some thought was unfair, especially given Musk had reached all his milestone targets.

Nonetheless, the decision to liquidate their Tesla stock was not solely the result of his pay deal. “This is by no means the only reason,” the ABP spokeswoman stipulated.

She said a whole range of criteria factored into their investment decisions, including those that a company’s management cannot influence. This might entail, for example, what kind of risk it deems appropriate for its policyholders at any given time. 

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment from Fortune. Typically, Musk does not take kindly to investors that turn their back on him.

Musk continues to nurse a feud with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates over the latter shorting Tesla. Separately, Musk’s vicious attacks against George Soros—whom he now portrays as cartoonishly evil—first began after quarterly SEC filings indicated the latter had liquidated his position in the EV manufacturer.