GIC, Temasek & MAS 01 (May 08 - Aug 09)

[Cheng]

Ah gong speaks.

March 4, 2009, 7.12 pm (Singapore time)

Crisis takes S'pore's GIC 25% off its peak

SINGAPORE - The portfolio of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC has fallen about 25 per cent from its peak due to the financial crisis, but it can weather the storm for 10 years if necessary, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said.

Mr Lee said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) had bought 'too early' into global banks such as Citigroup and UBS, which were both hammered by toxic assets.

GIC last week converted its US$6.88 billion worth of Citigroup preference shares into common stock at a price of S$3.25 a share to shore up the embattled US lender, realising in the process a loss of around half its initial investment.

Mr Lee, the current chairman of GIC, said the fund's asset managers had pared equity holdings before the crisis from about 60 per cent of the portfolio to 45-50 per cent.

'We scaled it down about 10, 15 per cent, which gave us a lot of cash ... but if we hadn't gone into banks and just held onto the shares, that would have gone down also,' he said.

Mr Lee said a contraction of 8 per cent in Singapore's gross domestic product this year was a possibility and was becoming a probability due to weak exports to its traditional Western markets. -- REUTERS

[LenaHuat]

Hope Ah Gong lives to 100.
Cuz only Ah Gong can ask daughter-in-law to move on

[-dol-]

C/UBS/BAC continue to get slaughtered last nite as the global financials reel with no end in sight.

What kind of due diligence did these people do?

So now they just hang tight on helicopter views such as "circulation system of the world". The banking landscape is going to undergo massive change in the coming years. And you just bet 30% of your portfolio on this unfolding scenario. Rough it out for 10 years (hopefully not more). Yeah, roll with the punches...

So why do they need "talents" drawing top salaries that only the likes of C/UBS/BAC could afford? And see what these "talents" did to them.

[LenaHuat]

Ya, totally concur with dol's views.

B4 Mdm Ho, Temasek was only a 100-person outfit. With her, it grew to around slightly more than 300 with the majority being foreign talents. Ooops, they are now fallen talents

[-dol-]

It's time for more austerity - especially for the top.

Cut the CEO pay (a lot) and you save more jobs at the bottom. And don't tell me the CEO is indispensible. On the evidence so far, we can do without the mismanagement and crap that many of their ilk bring to the table.

Those people who say US$500,000 cap for bankers will drive away top talents - I say, by all means. We don't need over-hyped, over-rated, over-paid talents who destroy value. These people have to wake up to the new reality. There are not many places today, if any, who can afford nor sustain such ungodly compensation while the rest of the world burn. All those inflated "values" were built up on massive leverage and fraud on an unprecedented scale.

[Poles]

Ya, totally concur with dol's views.

B4 Mdm Ho, Temasek was only a 100-person outfit. With her, it grew to around slightly more than 300 with the majority being foreign talents. Ooops, they are now fallen talents

EDB started with 4 , including office boy.....i guess our efficiency has gone down pretty much.

[kennynah]

taking short cuts will always yield undesirable consequences....such is the concept of foreign talent scheme... aka wholesale prostitution...

[Poles]

i am really interested to know comments from Goh Keng Swee with regards to these losses by Temasek & GIC.
i just hope soon we could find another "Goh Keng Swee" for our economy to move forward in this new world.

[winston]

GIC:forced selling seen by investors in next 12-18 mths

SINGAPORE, March 10 (Reuters) - A Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) official said on Tuesday he expects more forced selling of assets by investors in the next 12-18 months as the "de-leveraging" in financial markets continues.

GIC also sees investment-grade corporate bonds as more attractive than equities currently, the fund's director of economics and strategy Yeoh Lam Keong, told the Investment Management Association of Singapore conference.

"This is a very destructive process for assets," Yeoh said, showing a slide that indicated total write downs in the financial sector could reach $3.8 trillion by 2013 and that only about 30 percent of the losses had been booked so far.

GIC, one of the world's largest sovereign funds with an estimated $200 billion-plus in assets, had invested aggressively in troubled international lenders, picking up multi-billion-dollar stakes in Citigroup (C.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX).

[millionairemind]

March 10, 2009, 2.48 pm (Singapore time)

Update: GIC sees more distress in markets

* GIC sees further weakness in financial markets: official
* Fancies gold; to avoid dollar, sterling currencies

SINGAPORE - An official from the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) said he expects more weakness in financial markets in the next 12-18 months, and recommended investors to hold gold and other safe assets such as government bonds.

GIC, one of the world's largest sovereign funds with an estimated US$200 billion-plus in assets, has invested aggressively in troubled global lenders, picking up multi-billion dollar stakes in Citigroup and UBS in late 2007 and early 2008.

There is 'systemic capital inadequacy globally', and the world will probably see 'three years of a very vicious downcycle', GIC's director of economics and strategy, Yeoh Lam Keong, told the Investment Management Association of Singapore conference on Tuesday.

'This is a very destructive process for assets.'

Mr Yeoh, who said he was speaking in his personal capacity, showed a slide prepared by GIC that indicated global writedowns in the financial sector could reach US$3.8 trillion by 2013 and that only about 30 per cent of the losses had been booked so far.

He suggested investors hold gold, sovereign bonds and currencies such as the Japanese yen, Chinese yuan and Canadian dollar.

He said he liked gold because governments were under pressure to cheapen their currencies to compensate for falling demand, and that some countries such as the United States and Britain would eventually be forced to monetise their debt by printing money.

'I would avoid these currencies like the plague,' he said in reference to the dollar and sterling. -- REUTERS