The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. said Monday it will hand out a record high of some 2 trillion won ($1.66 billion) in cash dividends to its shareholders for the year 2015, in its largest allotment to date.

“We plan to pay 1.99 trillion won for dividends out of a net profit of 13.41 trillion won posted in 2015,” the nation’s largest utility firm said in a regulatory filing. 

“The decision is scheduled for discussion at the board meeting on Monday and confirmation at the regular shareholder’s meeting on March 22.”

KEPCO’s forthcoming dividend handout is about six times larger than its allotment of 320 billion won in 2014.

The move comes after the company logged a net profit of 13.41 trillion in 2015, up 395 percent from the previous year, largely due to new cash generated by selling the site of its headquarters in Seoul ahead of relocating to Naju, South Jeolla Province.

Last year, KEPCO sold its 79,342 square meter site in the heart of Gangnam district in Seoul to Hyundai Motor for 10.6 trillion won, which analysts said is triple the property’s assessed value.

About half of KEPCO’s shares are owned by the state -- the South Korean government (18 percent) and the Korea Development Bank (33 percent) -- meaning the state is set to collect about 1 trillion won in dividends for the year 2015.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)