State-linked Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings remains a formidable global player despite wholly-owned unit PSA International's failure to secure Britain's biggest port operator, analysts say.
The company has an enviable war chest and one battlefield loss is unlikely to dampen its aggressive drive to own more assets beyond the domestic market, they say.
PSA International last month abandoned its bid for Britain's Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Co (P&O) after Dubai's DP World offered a higher price, averting what analysts had expected to become a high-stakes bidding war.
DP World's offer, which valued P&O at US$6.9 billion, trumped PSA's bid of US$6.2 billion. A win by PSA would have vaulted it over Hong Kong's Hutchison Ports as the world's biggest container port operator by capacity.
"It was a setback [for Temasek], but they still have a big chest of funds. I'm sure they will find some appealing opportunities going forward," David Cohen, a Singapore-based economist with research house Action Economics said.
After losing to DP World, PSA is expected "to remain an aggressive player" in the hunt for individual terminal opportunities, Neil Davidson, research director at Drewry Shipping Consultants said.
He said PSA could also chase medium-sized terminal portfolios or the terminals of some major shipping lines.
In a commentary in Singapore's Business Times last month, Wong Wei Kong said PSA's play for P&O showed Temasek Holdings was "playing for big stakes on the global stage."
Wong said the bid marked Temasek's first major foray outside Asia since 2002.
Song Seng Wun (
P&O "is one of those it-will-be-nice-to-have companies because you can make a great leap in terms of position in the global landscape. But it's not the end of the world," Song said.
Headed by Ho Ching (
It manages a global portfolio worth S$103 billion (US$63 billion) which includes Singapore Airlines and other corporate icons in the city-state, as well as companies in Australia, China and India.
Its investments cover telecommunications and media, financial services, property, transportation and logistics, energy and resources, infrastructure, engineering and technology, as well as pharmaceuticals and biosciences.
Temasek has already made its global presence felt this year.
Last month, it bought the entire controlling share of Shin Corp from the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
That same month Temasek took a 5 percent stake in Thailand's Bumrungrad Hospital, one of the country's best medical facilities.
On Friday, China's second largest lender, the Bank of China (
Temasek already owns 5.1 percent of another of China's big four commercial lenders, China Construction Bank (
News reports say Temasek is also close to buying a controlling stake in Indonesia's biggest petrochemical firm for an estimated US$700 million.
Last year Temasek acquired stakes in companies in Britain, China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia and the US, the company says.
One dissenting voice emerged recently to publicly question Temasek's operations.
Steve Chia (謝鏡豐), one of the few opposition members in parliament, said Temasek's total shareholder's return (TSR) for the five-year period ending last March was only 1 percent, compared with a 2.7 percent rise in the benchmark Straits Times Index over the same period.
He sought a list of the "poor performers" in Temasek's stable of companies as well as the bonuses and remuneration paid to senior managers of those firms.
Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua (
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique