BackTemasek plans investments in countries focused on reforms, including India
The Singapore investment firm is targeting investments in China, India and Mexico, a senior executive said
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Singapore: State-run Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd will target investments in countries that are committed to structural reforms and these include China, India and Mexico, a senior executive said on Tuesday.
“In India, we are seeing the (Narendra) Modi-led government focusing on reviving investment-led growth," said Ravi Lambah, head, telecom, media and technology, and co-head, India, Africa and Middle East, at Temasek.
Temasek also announced it had posted total shareholder return (TSR in Singapore dollars) of 19.2% on a one-year basis, driven by the strong performance of its Singapore and China portfolio.
Its net portfolio value rose to S$266 billion as of 31 March this year, from S$223 billion a year earlier .
The Temasek Group’s net profit for this period was S$14.5 billion.
The investment firm finished the fiscal year ended 31 March in a net cash positive position, PNG Chin Yee, managing director, investment, Temasek, said at an event called Temasek Review 2015.
Temasek said the last financial year was its most active year for new investments since the global financial crisis.
“We made S$30 billion of new investments, and a record S$19 billion of divestments," chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement.
Temasek’s top three countries by exposure continue to be Singapore (28%), China (27%) and Australia (9%), according to Lambah.
About 50% of Temasek’s new investments during the last fiscal year were in Asia, followed by North America and Europe and this reflected the balanced outlook between growing Asia and recovering mature markets, the company’s review report said.
Asked specifically on India, which currently accounts for about 4% of the Singapore fund’s portfolio, Lambah said: “We have been very active in India last year, and it was probably one of our most active areas of investment. We have been seeing potential in investing in the country on a long-term perspective. We remain optimistic that India will deliver returns over the long term".
On the performance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Narendra Modi, Lambah said India had taken certain steps that were quite positive.
“For instance, the ability to connect millions of people who are unbanked—the government can now go out and award subsidies directly without any leakage. There are developments that we are watching and we continue to be positive investors in the long term," he added.
Temasek increased its exposure in India last year with investments in Global Health, the owner of the Medanta franchise of multi-speciality hospitals and Intas Pharmaceuticals. It also made investments in Snapdeal and data analytics company Manthan, among others.
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