South Korea's NPS ups Samsung C&T stake to around 11.9 percent before merger vote

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) said on Friday it has increased its holdings in Samsung C&T Corp <000830.KS> to about 18.56 million common shares as of June 30 from 15.85 million shares before June 4. The increase takes NPS's holdings to around 11.9 percent of C&T's total outstanding shares from around 10.2 percent earlier, according to Reuters calculations. NPS is the biggest single shareholder in Samsung C&T. It could be the swing shareholder vote in Samsung Group's $8 billion planned merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries Inc <028260.KS>, that has been contested by U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates. (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)