Singapore’s GIC Loses S$50 Billion as Assets Tumble, WSJ Says

[VIBGYOR]

Singapore’s GIC Loses $33 Billion as Assets Tumble, WSJ Says
By Andrea Tan and Chris Peterson

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Government of Singapore Investment Corp., one of two sovereign wealth funds owned by the island, lost as much as S$50 billion ($33 billion) in 2008, the Wall Street Journal said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The fund doesn’t plan to get rid of its investments including in Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG even as asset values plummet, the newspaper said. GIC expects the two banks to provide substantial long-term returns, according to the report.

Sovereign wealth funds in Asia and the Middle East have pumped money into global financial institutions to help replenish capital eroded by writedowns and losses that have topped $1 trillion globally. GIC, overseeing more than $100 billion of reserves, has invested about $18 billion in UBS and Citigroup since December 2007.

GIC’s losses are similar to those at Temasek Holdings Pte, the city-state’s other sovereign wealth fund, according to the Journal. “GIC does not comment on speculative reports,” Singapore-based spokeswoman Jennifer Lewis said today by phone.

The value of Temasek’s portfolio shrank 31 percent in the eight months to Nov. 30 as the global stock-market slump eroded the value of companies from Barclays Plc to Merrill Lynch & Co., Lim Hwee Hua, senior minister of state at Singapore’s finance ministry, said on Feb. 10.

Temasek’s assets were valued at S$127 billion, down from S$185 billion at the end of March 2008, Lim said then. The MSCI World Index declined 38 percent over the same period in U.S. dollar terms. The benchmark tumbled a record 42 percent in 2008.

GIC, along with Temasek, reduced equity holdings amid the global downturn last year “early in the crisis,” helping the funds to post smaller losses than the MSCI World Index, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Jan. 19.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at [email protected]; Chris Peterson at [email protected]

Last Updated: February 17, 2009 06:44 EST

 

[tommyh]

Strategic leak of GIC info given the uproar over Temasek losses.

Read the article, it is damage control.

 

[makapaaa]

Strategic leak of GIC info given the uproar over Temasek losses.

Read the article, it is damage control.

Wah seh! Like this u also know? R u saying I'm LYING? *chey*​

 

[funglung]

Strategic leak of GIC info given the uproar over Temasek losses.

Read the article, it is damage control.

Knowing that LKY and PAP and their stooges lie and lie all the time, how on earth to believe the losses are only what they say it is

 

[The_Latest_H]

Even with damage control, S$91b is still a heck of a lot of dough. And these are probably build up over a number of years. Its a waste and again, it shoots holes in Tharman's assertion that PAP operates on trust.

Clearly he's the Finance minister and yet his ministry allowed carte blanche access by LKY to use the reserves. He's clearly one not to be trusted all that much.

 

[besotted]

Stupid anyhow invest

China is the best!! See how much money they make from investing in China

Then go and invest in American conmen who lie to the public while lining up their own pockets with billions of bonuses

American losers like to lecture the rest of the world but cant get their act together

 

[commoner]

for those who knows how temasick and GAisee investments, they based their investments from supposedly investment ANALysts, they basically draw bthe same conclusion as ANALyst, whose report is at least 1-2 years out of date, following people's backside, after others have reaped the benefits of an emerging market, THEN they come in HI and MIGHTY, investing at the PEAK, then blamed on market conditions when market crashed.

 

[JohnTT]

Liao! More than $100 billion gone! Our money all gone! :(

 

[pia]

"GIC expects the two banks to provide substantial long-term returns, according to the report."

Eupehemisim for "tio tuck". Buy at high price then price plummet.. what to do? Hold lor. Like I'm holding to my SIA shares now :o

 

[DerekLeung]

Why put that unknown women's face !

Ho Jinx should be associated with Temasek Holdings for all eternity !

The TIME 100 — Are They Worthy?
CANDIDATES


AGE: 53
OCCUPATION: CEO of Temasek Holdings
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1

PRO: Runs Singapore's state-owned holding corporation that has $50 billion in assets. Married to the Prime Minister, she is one of the most powerful women in Asia.

CON: She stumbled when she greenlighted the acquisition of a telecommunications company from the former Thai prime minister — a $4 billion tax-free transaction that caused a furor in Thailand and ultimately led to a coup there.

 

[etherc]

"GIC expects the two banks to provide substantial long-term returns, according to the report."

Eupehemisim for "tio tuck". Buy at high price then price plummet.. what to do? Hold lor. Like I'm holding to my SIA shares now :o

There there. Have a ciggy and cheer up. Its an era where we go zorbing without the zorb. Just have to brace ourselves.

 

[Devil Within]

When lose money, they say it's "long term investment". Long term investment or long term lossing money? Like how CSM's long term keep lossing money kind of investment? Really greatest bullshit of all bullshit!

They say wait until it recovers, is that a forecast or a gamble? Base on what are they so sure their investment can recover? My crystal ball is more accurate than their guessing game! 10years? 20years? 50years or 100years for it to recover? What happen if the banks go burst? Will they then going to say that no one can tell what will happen in the future and all investments carry risk? Even my taxi driver friend know how to give these excuses, no need for expensive MBA executive say these type of bullshit.

Really amazes me how the majority Singaporeans can continue to accept these kind of clown performance and reports.