By Anshuman Daga and Aradhana Aravindan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s Temasek Holdings reported a 25% rise in its portfolio value to a record S$381 billion ($282 billion) in the year ended March 2021, with gains powered by a global equities rally and the public listing of some of its holdings.
Ranked among the biggest investors in the world, Temasek is anchored in Asia, with a 64% exposure to the region as measured by underlying assets of its portfolio companies, most of which are in China and Singapore.
The increase in its portfolio value was the highest in a decade and came after a 2.2% drop in the previous year, with the state investor notching up record investments and divestments in the latest year, Temasek executives told a news conference on Tuesday.
“The pandemic has accelerated the longer term trends that shape our investment posture. This is especially so for the digitisation trend,” said Mukul Chawla, joint head of Temasek’s telecoms, media and technology investments.
Chawla said that the shift to work from home generated demand for online services, payments, digital health and technology platforms, spurring some of Temasek’s privately held companies to go public.
Airbnb and food delivery firm Doordash were some of the investor’s portfolio firms that had public listings.
Unlike many state investors, the majority of Temasek’s investments are in equities, with unlisted assets making up 45% of its total portfolio.
After falling sharply in the first quarter of 2020 as COVID-19 broke out, global equities staged a powerful rally, with MSCI’s Asia shares ex-Japan index surging 55% in the year to March 31, 2021 and Singapore’s Straits Times index rising 28%.
Temasek’s key public holdings include DBS Group, China Construction Bank, Alibaba Group and Standard Chartered.
Temasek’s one-year total shareholder return rose to 24.54% in the year to March, rebounding from a negative 2.28% a year earlier.
The Americas once again accounted for the largest share of new investments made by Temasek last year, followed by Singapore and China.
Commenting on regulatory actions taken by China on its tech companies, Temasek executives said these are unlikely to lead to any shift in Temasek’s investment strategy, and they viewed China’s actions as one of the many risks for their investments.
($1 = 1.3505 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
