How GIC and Temasek are managing your money

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Indonesian unicorn eFishery allegedly faked most of its sales​

Indonesian start-up eFishery has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to modernise the country’s fish industry.PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Jan 22, 2025

Singapore – One of Indonesia’s most prominent start-ups, eFishery, may have inflated its revenue and profit over several years, according to an internal investigation triggered by a whistle-blower’s claim about the company’s accounting.

A preliminary, ongoing probe into the agritech start-up – backed by investors, including Japan’s SoftBank Group and Singapore’s Temasek – estimates that management inflated revenue by almost US$600 million (S$811 million) in the nine months through September in 2024, according to a 52-page draft report circulated among investors and reviewed by Bloomberg News. That would mean more than 75 per cent of the reported figures were fake, the report said.

The company, which deploys feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, was a darling of the nation’s start-up scene and turned unicorn with a valuation of US$1.4 billion when G42, an artificial intelligence firm controlled by the United Arab Emirates royal, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, backed its latest funding round. Unicorns are start-ups that reach a valuation of US$1 billion and are not listed on the stock market.

The start-up has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to modernise the country’s fish industry, providing farmers with smart feeding devices as well as feed and then buying their produce to sell into the broader market.

Investors were initially enticed by its profitability at a time when layoffs, chief executive officer resignations and plummeting valuations in the tech sector dominated headlines. It presented a US$16 million profit for the first nine months of 2024 to investors, but the investigation commissioned by the board alleges the firm actually generated a US$35.4 million loss.

Revenue for the period was estimated at US$157 million, rather than the US$752 million investors were told, according to the report. Management also inflated revenue and profit numbers for several previous years, the report said.

The report was initiated after a whistle-blower approached a board member with allegations that the accounts were not accurate, according to people familiar with the matter.

The board then commissioned a formal investigation in December, and dismissed co-founder and CEO Gibran Huzaifah after the accounting inconsistencies were discovered, the people said.

“We are fully aware of the gravity of the market speculation, and we take this matter with the utmost seriousness,” eFishery said in an e-mailed statement.

“We remain dedicated to upholding the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics in all of eFishery’s operations.”

The report, authored by FTI Consulting, is marked as a draft and subject to further changes as the investigation continues. It is based on more than 20 interviews with company staff and reviews of accounts and messages on WhatsApp, Slack and other channels, according to the report.

The draft report notes that investigators have yet to speak to the auditors or review any audit work papers or other documentation. The numbers are likely to change further, with bank statements, interviews and other accounts still yet to be found or completed.

Mr Huzaifah did not respond to messages seeking comment. Temasek and SoftBank declined to comment, while representatives of FTI and G42 did not immediately respond to queries.

Shareholders and directors have been surprised at the scale of the alleged fraud given the protective measures that were put in place, including channel checks and exit interviews of staff, one of the people said.

The company had previously hired PricewaterhouseCoopers and Grant Thornton to audit financial results. The two accounting firms declined to comment via email.

Investor calls have been taking place since the investigation began, and the key question will be what to do with the company’s assets and remaining cash, one of the people said.

While eFishery said it had more than 400,000 fish feeders in operation, initial investigations estimate it only had about 24,000.

In total, internal books show retained losses at roughly US$152 million from its inception until November 2024. While the total assets of the firm stand at US$220 million, this includes US$63 million in accounts receivable and US$98 million in investments, according to the report.

The allegations of fraud may be damaging for Indonesia’s start-up scene and come at a critical time as young companies and investors in the country struggle to raise new funding. The company was the nation’s latest so-called unicorn, or a start-up valued at more than US$1 billion. BLOOMBERG

 

[Loofydralb]

It is no different from throwing two dice.

 

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S&P places SingPost on CreditWatch negative after strategy reset, sale of Australia business​

With the sale of SingPost’s Australian business, S&P reckoned its remaining business is likely to be narrower with significantly reduced scale and diversity.PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES
Ry-Anne Lim
Dec 06, 2024

SINGAPORE – Global ratings agency S&P said on Dec 5 it has placed Singapore Post (SingPost) on CreditWatch negative, following a change in its future strategy and the sale of its Australian business.

On Dec 2, the postal service provider said it has entered a share purchase agreement to divest its Australian business at an enterprise value of A$1 billion (S$870 million).

This was part of the outcome of a strategic review, launched earlier in 2024, seeking to explore strategic options to enhance its business value and maximise shareholder value.

S&P believes that the sale will be “transformative” for SingPost and clouds its future strategy.

“Over the past four years, SingPost has invested into the logistics industry in Australia to mitigate the structural decline in the postal sector,” said the agency. SingPost’s Australian business is now a key contributor, accounting for 58 per cent of total revenue in the first half of financial year 2025.

The segment includes fourth-party logistics services, third-party logistics solutions such as transportation and distribution, and last-mile courier delivery, as well as warehousing services.

The loss of a key earnings pillar introduces uncertainty over SingPost’s future strategy and earnings contribution, said S&P.

It also unwinds management efforts over the past four years to diversify the business and “calls into question the consistency and execution of the company’s stated strategy”, said the agency.

With the sale of SingPost’s Australian business, S&P reckoned that its remaining business is likely to be narrower with significantly reduced scale and diversity.

Still, S&P noted that the transaction is expected to generate a net gain of $312.1 million, with the company receiving cash proceeds of $682.8 million. The proceeds can be used to pay down its outstanding Australian dollar-denominated debt of $544.9 million.

A portion of the remaining proceeds is likely to be earmarked for a special dividend, rather than used for further debt reduction, it said.

Based on the agency’s estimates, SingPost’s debt-to-Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) ratio will reduce to below two times, following the completion of the sale. This will be a material improvement from S&P’s earlier projection of more than three times for financial year 2025 and financial year 2026, it said.

Meanwhile, S&P said SingPost’s leverage policy and future capital allocation appear uncertain.

“The improved leverage position may not be sustained through investment cycles,” it said.

“This will depend on the company’s future business strategy, which could require further investment and time.”

The company’s longer-term leverage tolerance also remains unclear, said S&P.

It added that there remains uncertainty around the use of SingPost’s proceeds, even as the company continues to work on divesting other non-core assets.

“A potential sale of SingPost Centre could provide significant financial flexibility to the company and could further reshape the business,” it said. “Should a sale occur, the way in which SingPost reallocates capital could have a bearing on both its business and financial risk profiles.”

Shares of SingPost closed down 1.5 cents, or 2.5 per cent, at 57.5 cents on Dec 6. THE BUSINESS TIMES

 

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This is what happens when Temasek hires a PAP grassroots leader to run a company that belongs to all Singapore citizens.

SingPost Singapore CEO Shahrin Abdol Salam resigns​

SingPost Singapore CEO Shahrin Abdol Salam has resigned “to pursue opportunities outside the company”.PHOTOS: SINGPOST, SHINTARO TAY

Joyce Lim
Feb 03, 2025

SINGAPORE – The chief executive for Singapore Post’s local operations, Mr Shahrin Abdol Salam, has resigned, The Straits Times has learnt.

Mr Shahrin’s resignation comes after he spent less than a year in his role.

He joined SingPost as its Singapore CEO on May 1, 2024, taking over from Ms Neo Su Yin, who had left the firm to join dnata as managing director for Singapore.

Ms Neo, who recently rejoined SingPost as group chief operating officer following the termination of its top executives, will assume additional responsibility as Singapore CEO following Mr Shahrin’s departure.

A SingPost spokesman confirmed to ST that Mr Shahrin has resigned “to pursue opportunities outside the company”, and that a transition timeline is being worked out with Ms Neo.

“Su Yin is familiar with the Singapore business unit, having run the business from November 2021 till May 2024,” said the spokesman.

“We thank Shahrin for his contribution to SingPost during his time and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Mr Shahrin’s departure comes at a time of significant leadership upheaval within SingPost, following the recent terminations of former group CEO Vincent Phang, group chief financial officer Vincent Yik, and chief of the international business unit Li Yu.

The trio were fired over their handling of internal investigations following a whistle-blower’s report in 2024.

ST understands that Mr Shahrin’s resignation, which came on the morning of Feb 3, is not linked to that incident.

The whistle-blower’s report, which related to SingPost’s non-regulated international e-commerce logistics parcels business, had led to an internal investigation.

SingPost had found that three managers in the international business unit had committed serious breaches of the company’s code of conduct by manually updating the “delivery failure” status for parcels without supporting documents or actual delivery attempts.

The controversy resulted in the dismissal of Mr Phang, Mr Yik, and Mr Yu in December 2024, all of whom are currently contesting their terminations.

On Jan 22, 2025, SingPost appointed Mr Isaac Mah as the new group CFO. Mr Mah was previously CFO of SingPost’s Australia business, Freight Management Holdings.

Before joining SingPost, Mr Shahrin held roles as both managing director of SMRT’s Thomson-East Coast Line and the senior vice-president of strategic relations at SMRT Corporation.

According to his profile on the SingPost website, Mr Shahrin has more than 25 years of experience in areas including managing operations, strategic planning and asset management.

He is also an active grassroots leader in West Coast GRC, and was awarded the Pingat Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Medal) in 2019.

As at 2.45pm, shares of SingPost were trading at 56 cents.

 

[knowwhatyouwantinlife]

Wow how difficult is it to screw up a (in) monopoly (pun intended)

 

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SoftBank, Temasek among eFishery investors facing near wipeout​

The labour union of eFishery staged a protest attended by more than 100 employees in January at its headquarters in Bandung, Indonesia.PHOTO: EFISHERY WORKERS' UNION

Feb 24, 2025

Investigators hired by the board of eFishery have determined the Indonesian start-up is in far worse shape than they previously thought, and that investors are likely to get back less than 10 US cents (13 Singapore cents) for every dollar they invested, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The company, which deploys feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, incurred several hundred million dollars in losses between 2018 and 2024 and misrepresented its financial figures for years, according to the documents and a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

“eFishery is not commercially viable in its current form,” said a presentation prepared for the firm’s investors by FTI Consulting Singapore, the adviser hired to review the business and take over management of the company.

The fallen start-up, whose financial backers include SoftBank Group and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, had been a star of Indonesia’s start-up scene. eFishery was valued at US$1.4 billion in 2023 after it raised US$200 million from Abu Dhabi’s 42XFund and some of its earlier investors.

In all, global investors plowed around US$315 million into eFishery’s preferred shares over five funding rounds, according to the presentation. In late 2024, the company was rocked by allegations of misconduct and inflated sales and profits, which led to the dismissal of its co-founders Gibran Huzaifah and Chrisna Aditya.

The FTI presentation estimated that eFishery had around US$50 million in cash as of around mid-February, and recommended that much of the business be wound down. “The cash balance continues to deplete without a restructuring plan in place,” it said.

That’s bad news for preference shareholders, all of whom would be paid back on an equal, or pari passu basis in the event of a liquidation. The investors could get back 9.5 US cents on the dollar under an “optimistic scenario”, and just 8.3 US cents on the dollar under a “conservative scenario, according to the presentation. That would mean Abu Dhabi’s G42, which invested US$100 million in the April 2023 round, may get just US$8.3 million back less than two years later.


A spokesperson for FTI Consulting declined to comment. SoftBank didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours, while a Temasek spokesperson declined to comment. G42 didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

Debt problems​

Before its downfall, eFishery said its business revolved around installing AI-driven smart fish feeders, sensors and automated supply chains that connected farmers to buyers via smartphone apps. It also helped farmers obtain financing from peer-to-peer lenders and financial institutions to pay for their feed and operational costs.

The company had claimed to have more than 400,000 fish feeders deployed, and investigators initially estimated the number was closer to 24,000. The current estimate is just 6,300, of which only 600 are sending back data, according to the presentation.

The investigators also found that there was a high default rate on the financing arrangements, and that eFishery bears all losses when farmers fail to repay their loans. “In theory, the proceeds from the harvest or cash collected from farmers should be repaid back to the lenders,” the presentation said. “In practice, however, eFishery faced significant challenges when it comes to collection from borrowers.”

Hampering the debt collection process were the huge distances and fragmented nature of Indonesia’s developing economy, where almost 10 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. About 76 per cent of eFishery’s US$68 million in accounts receivable were deemed as bad debt more than 60 days overdue, with the company ultimately liable for the bulk of loans it facilitated with banks, according to the presentation.

“Substantial costs would need to be incurred to realise or recover these outstanding amounts from borrowers who are scattered all across the country,” it said.

Manual matching​

The company’s fish and shrimp businesses were operating on thin margins and “severely loss making”, the presentation said. Key apps were not connected to eFishery’s accounting systems, and many farmers were manually matched with buyers, the investigators found.

Much of the advanced technology that the firm touted did not work as claimed, according to the presentation. None of eFishery’s PondTag sensors that were supposed to help remotely judge water quality and automate fish and shrimp feeders had been deployed. The limited data collection meant fish feed predictions were wrong almost half the time, the document said.

In essence, eFishery was “operating like a traditional trading business without technology”, the presentation said, noting that this helped explain the company’s large workforce of almost 2,600 employees at its peak in early 2024. Following mass job cuts since the start of this year, the company has roughly 200 staff. BLOOMBERG

 

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DBS chief Piyush Gupta’s 2024 pay rises to $17.6 million after bank’s record earnings​

Compared to 2022, Mr Gupta’s 2024 pay was 14 per cent higher than that year’s $15.4 million package.ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Sheila Chiang
Mar 06, 2025

SINGAPORE - Outgoing DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta received $17.58 million in total pay for 2024, higher than what he took home in 2023, according to the bank’s annual report released on March 6.

This comes as the bank achieved a record performance in 2024 as full-year net profit rose 11 per cent to $11.4 billion, with return on equity at 18 per cent.

“The bank’s stellar all-round performance, as well as its improved technology resiliency, resulted in a higher scorecard appraisal by the Board compared to the previous year,” DBS said in the report.

DBS said Mr Gupta’s higher remuneration came about after factoring in the scorecard performance and a normalisation in compensation following a reduction taken in 2023 in response to senior management taking accountability for the digital disruptions.

This saw Mr Gupta’s pay in 2023 fall 27 per cent to $11.2 million.

Compared to 2022, his 2024 pay was up 14 per cent from that year’s $15.4 million.

The bulk of his 2024 pay package came from a deferred award of $9.36 million, to be paid mostly in shares. A cash bonus of $6.65 million, a base salary of $1.5 million and other payments of $80,533 made up the rest.

In February, Mr Gupta said the bank was planning to cut 4,000 contract and temporary staff over the next three years as artificial intelligence increasingly replaces humans.

“We have to fully embrace the possibilities, which should lead to a fundamental rethink of our operating models and even the creation of new business models,” Mr Gupta said on March 6.

Mr Gupta is set to pass the baton to Ms Tan Su Shan, currently deputy CEO and group head of institutional banking, when he retires at the next annual general meeting on March 28, 2025.

In the annual report, DBS chairman Peter Seah said Ms Tan has been pivotal in developing major digitalisation initiatives such as DBS digibank, PayLah! and iWealth. She drove the development of a number of AI models and spearheaded efforts to apply generative AI within the bank, he said.

 

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DBS investigating cause of overnight disruption to digital banking, ATM services​

People use DBS automated teller machines (ATMs) in Singapore on Mar 31, 2022. (File photo: REUTERS/Caroline Chia)

8 Mar 2025

SINGAPORE: DBS services, including mobile banking, ATMs and NETS, have been restored after an overnight disruption on Saturday (Mar 8).

According to outage tracking site, Downdetector.com, complaints spiked just after midnight and continued past 9am.

DBS acknowledged the issues accessing digital services in a Facebook post at about 2.30am, adding that customers can continue to make payments using DBS or POSB cards or perform transactions via ATMs.

The bank said in an update that banking services, including ATMs and NETS, would not be available until 5am.

“We seek your patience while we actively work to resolve the issue. Customers can however continue to make payments via DBS/POSB debit and credit cards,” DBS said at about 3.50am.

It later added that services, including mobile and online banking, digital wallet PayLah!, DBS mTrading and ATMs, returned to normal as at 5.48am.

“We appreciate our customers’ patience and are sorry for the inconvenience caused,” the bank said on Facebook.

However, customers continued to experience outages.

“What time already? Still down,” said a Nick Lim on DBS’ Facebook page at about 9.30am. Another user posted a screenshot at about 8.20am showing that the bank’s website was “unavailable”.

In response to CNA's questions about the duration and cause of the disruption, a DBS spokesperson said: “All services returned to normal as at 5.48am on Mar 8, 2025.”

It added that it is investigating the cause of the incident.

“Our monitoring systems detected that our customers faced difficulties accessing our banking services, including ATMs and NETS. Our teams immediately worked to resolve the issue with utmost priority,” said the spokesperson.

DBS, Singapore’s largest lender, was hit by a string of disruptions to its digital banking services in 2023, prompting the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to bar the bank from any acquisitions of new business ventures for six months.

The bank was also required to pause non-essential IT changes for six months and was not allowed to reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore.

DBS said in November 2023 that it had set aside a special budget of S$80 million to enhance its technology and system resiliency.

The bank’s senior management, including CEO Piyush Gupta, also took cuts to their variable pay to take responsibility for the series of service disruptions in 2023.

 

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SoftBank, Temasek among eFishery investors facing near wipeout​

The labour union of eFishery staged a protest attended by more than 100 employees in January at its headquarters in Bandung, Indonesia.PHOTO: EFISHERY WORKERS' UNION

Feb 24, 2025

Investigators hired by the board of eFishery have determined the Indonesian start-up is in far worse shape than they previously thought, and that investors are likely to get back less than 10 US cents (13 Singapore cents) for every dollar they invested, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The company, which deploys feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, incurred several hundred million dollars in losses between 2018 and 2024 and misrepresented its financial figures for years, according to the documents and a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

“eFishery is not commercially viable in its current form,” said a presentation prepared for the firm’s investors by FTI Consulting Singapore, the adviser hired to review the business and take over management of the company.

The fallen start-up, whose financial backers include SoftBank Group and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, had been a star of Indonesia’s start-up scene. eFishery was valued at US$1.4 billion in 2023 after it raised US$200 million from Abu Dhabi’s 42XFund and some of its earlier investors.

In all, global investors plowed around US$315 million into eFishery’s preferred shares over five funding rounds, according to the presentation. In late 2024, the company was rocked by allegations of misconduct and inflated sales and profits, which led to the dismissal of its co-founders Gibran Huzaifah and Chrisna Aditya.

The FTI presentation estimated that eFishery had around US$50 million in cash as of around mid-February, and recommended that much of the business be wound down. “The cash balance continues to deplete without a restructuring plan in place,” it said.

That’s bad news for preference shareholders, all of whom would be paid back on an equal, or pari passu basis in the event of a liquidation. The investors could get back 9.5 US cents on the dollar under an “optimistic scenario”, and just 8.3 US cents on the dollar under a “conservative scenario, according to the presentation. That would mean Abu Dhabi’s G42, which invested US$100 million in the April 2023 round, may get just US$8.3 million back less than two years later.

A spokesperson for FTI Consulting declined to comment. SoftBank didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours, while a Temasek spokesperson declined to comment. G42 didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

Debt problems​

Before its downfall, eFishery said its business revolved around installing AI-driven smart fish feeders, sensors and automated supply chains that connected farmers to buyers via smartphone apps. It also helped farmers obtain financing from peer-to-peer lenders and financial institutions to pay for their feed and operational costs.

The company had claimed to have more than 400,000 fish feeders deployed, and investigators initially estimated the number was closer to 24,000. The current estimate is just 6,300, of which only 600 are sending back data, according to the presentation.

The investigators also found that there was a high default rate on the financing arrangements, and that eFishery bears all losses when farmers fail to repay their loans. “In theory, the proceeds from the harvest or cash collected from farmers should be repaid back to the lenders,” the presentation said. “In practice, however, eFishery faced significant challenges when it comes to collection from borrowers.”

Hampering the debt collection process were the huge distances and fragmented nature of Indonesia’s developing economy, where almost 10 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. About 76 per cent of eFishery’s US$68 million in accounts receivable were deemed as bad debt more than 60 days overdue, with the company ultimately liable for the bulk of loans it facilitated with banks, according to the presentation.

“Substantial costs would need to be incurred to realise or recover these outstanding amounts from borrowers who are scattered all across the country,” it said.

Manual matching​

The company’s fish and shrimp businesses were operating on thin margins and “severely loss making”, the presentation said. Key apps were not connected to eFishery’s accounting systems, and many farmers were manually matched with buyers, the investigators found.

Much of the advanced technology that the firm touted did not work as claimed, according to the presentation. None of eFishery’s PondTag sensors that were supposed to help remotely judge water quality and automate fish and shrimp feeders had been deployed. The limited data collection meant fish feed predictions were wrong almost half the time, the document said.

In essence, eFishery was “operating like a traditional trading business without technology”, the presentation said, noting that this helped explain the company’s large workforce of almost 2,600 employees at its peak in early 2024. Following mass job cuts since the start of this year, the company has roughly 200 staff. BLOOMBERG