July 29, 2009 19:13 PM

Temasek Suffers S$40 Billion Loss In Assets

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, July 29 (Bernama) -- Temasek Holdings, Singapore's government global investment arm, suffered about S$40 billion loss in its portfolio value in the financial year ended last March.

Temasek's Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Ho Ching said the loss was expected as in its review last year the firm reported an annual value-at-risk of almost S$40 billion last March and it turned out to be true and more.

Ho, who is the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said this during a talk on Temasek to Singapore corporate leaders and policy makers at the Institute of Policy Studies here Wednesday.

Ho said Temasek, which had S$127 billion in assets as at November 2008, was a long-term investor and "will not divest for divestment's sake."

"We don't intend to raid the larder, nor sell the family jewels, for short-term gains," she said, adding that Temasek "will jealously guard our interests, and will invest, rationalise, consolidate or divest where it makes sense, and where it could achieve clear sustainable value."

Until last year, Temasek which was established 35 years ago was well-known by the market to have an annual return of about 18 percent.

Its portfolios include Singapore Airlines, telecommunications giant SingTel and Port of Singapore Authority.

Ho said Temasek's success since its formation was due to its employees who had passion, commitment and capability to run the companies under its arm and deliver, and also due to the success of Singapore itself.

Temasek is now looking at Asia, which is transforming, to invest further as its growth would add to Singapore's own growth potential, Ho said.

"We saw four main engines of growth for ourselves in Asia - from India and South Asia, to ASEAN, from Singapore, to China and North Asia," she said.

As a result of Asia's strength over the last few years, Temasek now has 40 percent exposure to the whole of Asia and remains very comfortable with the region although its growth would not be a straight line trajectory, Ho said.

"We can expect bumps along the way, but the longer term potential remains strong. By longer term, we mean 20, 30 years. As Asia continues on its development curve, it will also de-risk," she said.

She also said Temasek planned to venture into new regions such as Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Russia, putting its exposure to the areas at around 10 percent, while maintaining a 40:30:20:10 portfolio mix with Asia holding the bulk, followed by Singapore (30) and OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) economies (20).



-- BERNAMA

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