Temasek ?

It is a the kind of company no one talks about & they rule the world ! I love these !

Temasek is a huge financial holding (103 Bn USD in March 2005) based in Singapore. Basically, it represents the Singaporean state financial power. It is the main vehicle of the Singaporean Government foreign & domestic investment. They own part or totality of more than 50 companies : Singapore Airlines (57%), Singapore Telecom (63%), PT Bank Danamon (56%), CapitaLand (59%), Raffles Holding (35%), the Ascott Group (40%)... you name it !

Recently Temasek has been talked about a lot for it is on the verge to get a minority share in the Bank Of China (BoC). The relevant article in the FT is talking of a 10% share. Even for Temasek, that is a huge investment for BoC market capitalisation is closed to a 110 Bn USD.

This kind of investment is not totally new for Temasek though. Indeed it already owns a 5% share of the China Minsheng Banking Corp. though Minsheng is privately owned. Actually Minsheng is the sole bank in China which is privately owned.

You can download the latest financial report of Temasek here.

Footnote : I am curious to know who owns the other 95% of Minsheng... Gotta check that...