<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>May 17, 2009
TEMASEK'S PERFORMANCE
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Govt takes long-term view <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Mavis Toh
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
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THE Government takes an overall and long-term view when it comes to investments such as those made by state-owned investment vehicle Temasek Holdings, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Saturday night.
'What matters to the Government is the overall performance,' he said, adding that an investment should be assessed 'over the long term'.
'We track, engage and evaluate the performance. But we don't just look at six months or one year,' he said.
And over the last five years, Temasek has not underperformed but has instead 'come out significantly ahead' of other major investors.
'I don't think anyone can honestly say that they've done badly compared with other major investors.'
He also pointed out that all major investors have been significantly affected by the global downturn over the last year.
He made these points at a grassroots event when asked to comment on how the Government regarded the losses chalked up by Temasek following its sale of Bank of America (BoA) shares.
It was reported yesterday that Temasek Holdings sold all its BoA shares in the first three months of this year, resulting in estimated losses of between US$2.3 billion (S$3.4 billion) and US$4.6 billion.
Temasek's involvement in BoA stemmed from its US$5.1 billion investment in Merrill Lynch. It had held a 13.7 per cent stake in the investment bank, making it the largest shareholder.
Temasek's entire stake was subsequently converted into BoA shares in January following the bank's completion of the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. This gave the investment company about a 3 per cent stake in BoA, or a holding of 188.8 million shares. Read the full story in The Sunday Times today.
TEMASEK'S PERFORMANCE
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Govt takes long-term view <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Mavis Toh
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->
THE Government takes an overall and long-term view when it comes to investments such as those made by state-owned investment vehicle Temasek Holdings, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Saturday night.
'What matters to the Government is the overall performance,' he said, adding that an investment should be assessed 'over the long term'.
'We track, engage and evaluate the performance. But we don't just look at six months or one year,' he said.
And over the last five years, Temasek has not underperformed but has instead 'come out significantly ahead' of other major investors.
'I don't think anyone can honestly say that they've done badly compared with other major investors.'
He also pointed out that all major investors have been significantly affected by the global downturn over the last year.
He made these points at a grassroots event when asked to comment on how the Government regarded the losses chalked up by Temasek following its sale of Bank of America (BoA) shares.
It was reported yesterday that Temasek Holdings sold all its BoA shares in the first three months of this year, resulting in estimated losses of between US$2.3 billion (S$3.4 billion) and US$4.6 billion.
Temasek's involvement in BoA stemmed from its US$5.1 billion investment in Merrill Lynch. It had held a 13.7 per cent stake in the investment bank, making it the largest shareholder.
Temasek's entire stake was subsequently converted into BoA shares in January following the bank's completion of the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. This gave the investment company about a 3 per cent stake in BoA, or a holding of 188.8 million shares. Read the full story in The Sunday Times today.
smart alex.....
