TEMASEK Holdings has sold its stake of almost 2 per cent in British banking giant Barclays in December and January, according to an unsourced Reuters report.
Both parties declined comment when contacted by The Straits Times on Wednesday. A Temasek spokesman said: 'We don't comment on unsourced reports.'
However, sources told The Straits Times that Temasek sustained a loss of between 500 million pounds (S$1.18 billion) and 600 million pounds on the sale, which was said to be have been completed in December and January.
Its loss is in sharp contrast to the Abu Dhabi government, which sold more than 11 per cent of the bank's shares on Tuesday, making a US$2.5 billion ($3.6 billion) profit from its investment in just seven months.
Temasek paid 975 million pounds buying Barclays shares at 720 pence apiece in July 2007.
Temasek sold its 3 per cent stake in the Bank of America in the first three months of the year, leading to estimated losses of between US$2.3 billion and US$4.6 billion and prompting criticism of the move.
Last week, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam defended Temasek's overall track record in Parliament, revealing that Temasek had made 'large investment gains' during the market cycle which began in 2003 including both boom and bust phases.
Mr Tharman said Temasek's portfolio grew $56 billion from March 2003 to November last year even after taking recent sharp declines into account. It averaged returns of slightly over 15 per cent a year.
The sale of its Barclays and BoA stakes are in line with Temasek's recent tweaking of its long-term investment strategy to focus more on Asia and emerging markets such as Brazil and Russia.
It will, in turn, reduce emphasis on developed countries such as the United States and Europe.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_385426.html
Both parties declined comment when contacted by The Straits Times on Wednesday. A Temasek spokesman said: 'We don't comment on unsourced reports.'
However, sources told The Straits Times that Temasek sustained a loss of between 500 million pounds (S$1.18 billion) and 600 million pounds on the sale, which was said to be have been completed in December and January.
Its loss is in sharp contrast to the Abu Dhabi government, which sold more than 11 per cent of the bank's shares on Tuesday, making a US$2.5 billion ($3.6 billion) profit from its investment in just seven months.
Temasek paid 975 million pounds buying Barclays shares at 720 pence apiece in July 2007.
Temasek sold its 3 per cent stake in the Bank of America in the first three months of the year, leading to estimated losses of between US$2.3 billion and US$4.6 billion and prompting criticism of the move.
Last week, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam defended Temasek's overall track record in Parliament, revealing that Temasek had made 'large investment gains' during the market cycle which began in 2003 including both boom and bust phases.
Mr Tharman said Temasek's portfolio grew $56 billion from March 2003 to November last year even after taking recent sharp declines into account. It averaged returns of slightly over 15 per cent a year.
The sale of its Barclays and BoA stakes are in line with Temasek's recent tweaking of its long-term investment strategy to focus more on Asia and emerging markets such as Brazil and Russia.
It will, in turn, reduce emphasis on developed countries such as the United States and Europe.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_385426.html
