Singapore state investor Temasek posts jump in portfolio value

Jul 8, 2010, 9:57 GMT

Singapore - Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd said Thursday that the net value of its portfolio jumped 43 per cent during the past fiscal year to 186 billion Singapore dollars (134 billion US dollars) but profits dipped in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

The increase of 56 billion Singapore dollars in portfolio value 'is in part the result of the global recovery in the financial markets and partly due to the investments we made during the crisis,' executive director Simon Israel said.

Net profit for the financial year that ended in March declined 26 per cent year-on-year to 4.6 billion Singapore dollars because of lower profit contributions from some companies impacted by the global crisis, Temasek said in its annual report.

'Overall, we were happy with our results,' Israel said.

Temasek, whose sole shareholder is Singapore's Finance Ministry, has an exposure today in Asia - excluding Singapore and Japan - of 46 per cent and was likely to increase that share over the next decade, he said.

'We remain optimistic on Asia ... and in growth markets, such as Brazil and other Latin American economies,' he said.

Israel said 'the worst of the meltdown risks' for the global economy were gone but the European debt crisis was a reminder that structural rebalancing was not over yet.

How governments managed the delicate balance between restoring growth and handling their deficits was 'probably one of the key risks today,' Israel said.

Israel said Temasek's new wholly owned global investment company, Seatown Holdings, established in August, was 'a testbed' to explore ways for the public to co-invest with Temasek in eight to 10 years from now.

Talks that Temasek was in discussions to take a stake in struggling British oil company BP Plc, which has to deal with a devastating oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, were 'speculation,' he said.

Israel said Temasek had no timeframe to find a replacement for chief executive Ho Ching after her designated successor, US businessman Charles Goodyear, made a surprising exit in July 2009.

'Ho Ching is our CEO; she is continuing as CEO,' he said.

Ho, the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had been set to leave Temasek October 1, but Goodyear, the former boss of the global resources company BHP Billiton Ltd, left Temasek because of differences over strategy.