Temasek loses $39.91 billion to the onslaught of global recession

29 May 2009

Singapore state-owned investment arm and sovereign wealth fund, Temasek Holdings, has lost $39.91 billion in the value of its investments between March 2008 to November 2008, due to the global economic meltdown.

The Singapore sovereign wealth fund that manages a portfolio of over $134 billion as on 31 March 2008, lost about half of its portfolio gains that it had made in the previous five years.

Fielding criticism from Singapore's members of parliament that the country's sovereign wealth fund had lost money, Singapore's finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam pointed out that Tamasek actually saw a net gain of $56 billion during the global economic boom from 2003 to November 2008.

He, however, admitted that between March and November 2008, the portfolio of Temasek declined by $58 billion after paying all dividends to its sole shareholder, the Singapore government and netting off all capital injections into Temasek.

Shanmugaratnam said that nearly half of the $58-billion loss was due to the 10 largest listed Singapore companies in which Temasek has a stake, losing their stock value although he was quiet on the losses accrued from the sale of its holdings in Bank of America, including Temasek's loss in investment in Merrill Lynch.

He said that the share prices of these10 companies fell by about 41 per cent on average from end-March to November.