Dutch pension fund ABP has put out a statement for participants after several press reports said that it was selling its shares in Tesla.

CEO Elon Musk responded on his platform X that ABP is losing money due to the sale of those shares.

The statement follows an article in Financieele Dagblad(FD) which reported that more leasing companies are reconsidering their contracts with Tesla, because of the “extreme behaviour” of the CEO and ABP has also “left” Tesla due to Musk.

However, ABP stated that this decision took place in the third quarter of 2024 and has nothing to do with growing “Tesla shame” or with Musk's “extreme behaviour”.

The article also stated that it did not agree with the €50bn bonus that Musk received as CEO of Tesla. ABP said it was true that it voted against the award of this bonus at the shareholders' meeting as it did not consider the amount to be in accordance with its rules for good governance.

However, the fund said this was “just one part of the picture” and Tesla was not the only stock it said “goodbye” to.

ABP pointed out that it had renewed its entire investment policy in shares during 2024, to focus on index investing and will invest in a selection of companies that meet its criteria.

The statement said this applied to Tesla for several reasons.

“Musk is right on one point. His bromance with the next president has certainly done the stock good in the last few months,” the statement said.

However, the statement also emphasised that pension funds never invest for a few months, or not even a year.

Instead, the statement said they invest for the very long term and ABP’s investment policy is of a different order and deviates greatly from the common image people have of investing.

“We spread our risks over a wide range of shares. We enter into long-term and careful relationships with the companies in which we invest and participate in discussions about policy. We look beyond today and map out risks and opportunities in the longer term,” the statement continued.

ABP said that if a company does not meet its criteria in the area of, for example, good governance, this could pose a risk in the longer term and therefore, Tesla did not meet its requirements.

It pointed out that another 900 companies in its original portfolio of stocks did also not "make the cut".

Finally, ABP said that the proceeds from the sale of the investments were immediately reinvested, adding that for competitive reasons, it does not disclose which shares are involved.

Tesla has been contacted by European Pensions for comment.

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