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New Asian giant investor emerges

This file photo dated Oct. 12 last year shows Temasek Towers standing tall in the financial district of Shenton Way in Singapore. PHOTO: AFP

Singapore's Temasek Holdings is making its mark as an Asian powerhouse investor after a trailblazing multi-billion dollar shopping spree in the region over the past two years, analysts say.

The Singapore government's investment arm, which has interests in everything from banks to telecoms, airlines to energy firms, is now a major presence in the region, stretching from closest neighbor Malaysia to China and India.

Almost half of Temasek's portfolio, worth S$90 billion (US$55 billion), is invested overseas with many of its foreign interests acquired over the past two years, company spokeswoman Rachel Lin said.

Lin said Temasek had invested more than US$ billion globally since 2003 and it planned to continue increasing its foreign assets, not only in Asia but throughout the 30 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations.

Some of the notable foreign investments undertaken by Temasek over the past three years include stakes in South Korea's Hana Bank, Bank Danamon of Indonesia, Telekom Malaysia and India's largest bank, ICICI Bank.

Just last week Temasek bought a 25 percent stake in Pakistan's NIB bank, as well as a slice of Malaysia's Alliance Bank through acquiring a 15.4 percent stake in the institution's owner, Malaysian Plantations.

Nine percent of its portfolio is now made up of investments in Southeast Asian countries other than Singapore, according to the company's Web site.

Another six percent is in China, Taiwan and South Korea, 17 percent is in Australia, one percent is in Japan and another one percent in India and Pakistan.

Outside of the Asia Pacific, seven percent of its portfolio is in the US and another seven percent in Europe.

Chua Hak Bin, a senior regional economist at DBS Group in Singapore, said Temasek had grown to become a very significant economic force in Asia.

"By virtue of its size and capacity to stake substantial strategic stakes across a range of industries, it's an Asian powerhouse," Chua said.

Analysts credit Temasek's successful expansion strategy to Ho Ching (何晶), the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍), who was appointed its executive director in 2002.

Since Ho assumed the post, Temasek has accelerated its foreign-investment drive especially in the region's banking sector, and she has also shed a veil of secrecy surrounding the firm.
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