Daily Times

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is likely to book a record S$300 billion ($221 billion) for the value of its portfolio, powered by gains in DBS Group and Chinese banks, while it steps up investment in tech startups.

At the same time, Temasek is swooping in on opportunistic purchases with its stake buy in Swiss-based airline caterer Gategroup Holding, weeks after an announced move to buy into Hainan Airlines Holding Co. Ltd. Both firms are part of China’s debt-saddled HNA Group Co. Ltd, which has been selling part of its holdings.

Analysts estimate Temasek, the top investor in about a third of companies in Singapore’s Straits Times index, to report a net portfolio value of about S$300 billion for the year ended March 31, up roughly 9 percent versus a nearly 14 percent increase to S$275 billion a year earlier.

Temasek said it will give details of its performance this week.

“Last year was a good year across all asset classes and across the world. A rise in its portfolio value to above S$300 billion is quite doable,” said Song Seng Wun, economist at CIMB Private Banking.

Last month, Temasek and GIC Pte Ltd, Singapore’s bigger state fund, featured among main investors in a record-setting $14 billion fundraising by China’s Ant Financial Services Group. Temasek also put more money into online Chinese services firm Meituan Dianping last year.

Meanwhile, MSCI’s Asia shares ex-Japan index advanced 18 percent in the year to March, while Singapore’s main index rose 8 percent.

Temasek reports its annual scorecard next week. Under Chief Executive Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, it has become a global investor, plowing billions of dollars into startups and emerging markets in recent years.

Published in Daily Times, July 9^th 2018.