Temasek - A closed-end sovereign wealth fund?
Was just reading Temasek Holdings annual report for year ending March 2008. A couple of notable insights into the workings of this investment vehicle whose sole shareholder is the MOF (Ministry of Finance):
a. It's becoming harder and harder to make money - first time in five years where Temasek had a negative wealth added figure (Wealth added is a benchmark which measures the return against cost of capital) Bearing in mind that as the portfolio value increases, the absolute cost of capital increases as well, so Temasek has to make even more money in order to beat this benchmark.
b. Divestment out of 'emerging' Asia into 'stable' Europe. Guess the Asian economies are looking a tad forthy?
c. MOF does not inject capital regularly but instead on an ad-hoc basis. I wonder if Temasek allows any withdrawal of funds by MOF? From the report, it seems that MOF has never drawn-down any funds from Temasek so it could imply that the capital injections by MOF are excess funds after paying down CPF, pensions, dividends?
d. Would Temasek be better off paying a bigger dividend (to Singaporeans) if there are no worth-while investments, rather than chasing investments which on hindsight look a bit too expensive at the current climate?
The investment report is definitely worth a read - especially if you want some insight on Temasek's investment strategies, based upon value investing principles.
