Denmark’s Sampension has excluded the company behind Temu, PDD Holdings, following an investigation.

The pension provider has approximately DKK 161m invested in the company.

Temu has been accused of circumventing European legislation and is currently under investigation by the European Commission.

According to the European consumer authorities, this breaches consumer protection rules.

In light of this, the media has put a critical focus on Danish pension companies' investments in the company.

Against this background, Sampension conducted an investigation of PDD Holdings, resulting in the company's exclusion.

Commenting, Sampension community head of ESG, Jacob Ehlerth Jørgensen, said: "We have now completed our investigation of the investment in PDD Holdings, the owner of Temu.

“Based on the investigation, we believe that the company's behaviour is in violation of our responsibility policy – including a lack of consideration for consumer interests. Therefore, we are now excluding the company.”

He added that in the event of a breach of Sampension’s responsibility policy, it is the norm to assess whether the company can be influenced to change its behaviour through dialogue or other forms of active ownership.

“As the issues for which PDD Holdings is criticised are a significant and integral part of the company's business model, the Sampension community's assessment is that this is not realistic,” he said.

European Pensions has contacted PDD Holdings for a response.

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