Temasek Holdings lost 31 percent
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The portfolio of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, which helped bail out Wall Street icon Merrill Lynch, fell 31 percent over eight months last year, a minister said Tuesday, according to local radio.
The report followed Temasek's announcement last Friday that the wife of Singapore's prime minister will step down after five years as chief executive of Temasek, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. Senior Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua told parliament that Temasek's portfolio of investments fell to 127 billion dollars (84.7 billion US dollars), 31 percent down from 185 billion dollars, in the eight months to the end of November, 938Live radio reported.
But Lim said the fall in Temasek's portfolio value was less than declines in two stock indices, including the MSCI Singapore Index, which she said dropped 44 percent in Singapore dollar terms over the same period, the report said. A Temasek spokeswoman made no comment on the reported drop in portfolio value when asked for reaction by AFP.
The departure of Temasek chief executive Ho Ching, wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, comes amid questions over some of its investments, most recently the billions pumped into former US investment bank Merrill Lynch since December 2007.
Merrill Lynch suffered massive losses from high-risk US subprime mortgage investments, and Bank of America acquired it on January 1 after fears rose over whether the Wall Street firm would survive.
Last August Temasek announced that in the year to March its portfolio rose in value to 185 billion dollars, up 13 percent from the previous year. It also reported a record profit of 18.2 billion dollars for the year. Lim was responding in parliament to queries about how the global financial crisis has affected Temasek and the country's other sovereign wealth fund, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC).
In late 2007 and early last year GIC injected billions of dollars into Swiss bank UBS as well as US banking giant Citigroup, both of which suffered massive losses from US subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage investments. Subprime troubles later evolved into the worldwide financial slowdown. UBS Tuesday posted an annual loss of 17 billion US dollars, the largest in Swiss corporate history, and announced 2,000 new job cuts.
Lim said this was not the first time GIC and Temasek have seen major declines in markets. "In spite of these market gyrations, including the current downturn, for the 20-year period to late 2008 Temasek had achieved annualised returns of about 13 percent," she said on 938Live. "GIC, which has a more diversified and conservative portfolio, has also had creditable returns over the 20-year period."
GIC, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, in September said its nominal rate of return over the past 20 years was 7.8 percent in US dollar terms. Sovereign wealth funds are a form of government-created investment vehicle. Lim said GIC and Temasek had the resources to weather ups and downs over multiple economic and market cycles.
Temasek's chairman, S. Dhanabalan, insisted Friday there was no connection between Ho's departure and the Merrill Lynch stake, or an earlier controversial venture into Thailand's Shin Corp. He told reporters to be "a little cautious in coming to a conclusion that these investments are losses because we have a long-term view of our investments. And it is too early to say." Temasek has stakes in well-known regional firms including Singapore Airlines and Singapore Telecommunications, as well as in global financial institutions including British-based Standard Chartered bank. GIC's chairman is Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew.
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Die die must protect ho ching. PAP can never be responsible for their actions. Mas Selamat's case is another good example.
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its only paper loss.
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No wonder Ho Jinx step down! That's a lot of money lost. Even if investments are for long term, still won't recover back all the money. All the taxpayers must be very sore, our children & grandchildren will have to work hard to make back what is gone.
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Ho Jinx is going to run for the Elected Presidency.
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even if they didnt lose the money it wont be spent on us.
see how excited some MPs got when the govt decided to dip into the reserves? and how much was it as compared to the paper loss?
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Aiyah so much money down the drain. Can feed so many poor & elderly. The money can be use to top up our CPF, Medisave, build more hospitals, old folks homes etc. Hope they don't tax us some more cos the reserves are down.
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Originally posted by gerrykoh:
Aiyah so much money down the drain. Can feed so many poor & elderly.
The money can be use to top up our CPF, Medisave, build more hospitals, old folks homes etc.
Hope they don’t tax us some more cos the reserves are down.
all thanks to ho jinx and lee dynasty. -
ass-hole-jinx
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Today's ST painted a picture as if the loss was solely due to the economic downturn by saying "Temasek was not spared either".
When signs of the credit bubble was already brewing, this Electrical Engineering grad from Stanford (Ho Ching) still gave the go-ahead for the investments. Yeh and wtf right? Electrical Engineering!!!
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ha ha ha ha. ho jinx has the infallible support behind her. press is controlled by lee dynasty, they can say whatever.
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Name change for Temasek Holdings?
For the past few years, Temasek Holdings has been plagued by endless troubles. For example, it failed to seize control of the Thai, Malaysian or Indonesian economies.
Perhaps a name change would help to change its luck for the better!
If there is a name change, which of the following name is most suitable?
1) CMI Holdings
2) CBL Holdings
3) TCSS Holdings
4) Honest Mistakes Holdings
5) Extraordinary Holdings
6) Double Standards Holdings
7) Fireworks Holdings
8) Paper Losses Holdings
9) Third Generation Holdings
10) Meritocracy Holdings
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repeat post over and over again
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ho jinx
what a word
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Originally posted by gigabyte14:
ho jinx
what a word
ho ho ho jinxgle bells...jinxgle bells,...jinxgle all the way..