The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Private Limited (GIC) is a sovereign wealth fund established by the Government of Singapore in 1981 to manage Singapore's foreign reserves. With a network of eight offices in key financial capitals around the world, GIC invests internationally in equities, fixed income, money-market instruments, real estate and special investments.
GIC's investment portfolio is managed by its three subsidiaries: GIC Asset Management Pte Ltd (public markets), GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd and GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd (private-equity investments).
In 2007, GIC invested S$14 billion foolishly in UBS, a bank whose value has plunged over 60% since that time, meaning that a . S$8.4 billion dollar loss has already been inflicted on Singaporeans.
GIC's stake in ICICI Bank of India, originally hugely profitable, has bungee-jumped 74% down from a peak of 1400 rupees, turning their originally profitable investment into a loss-making one, taking into consideration their average down cost since 2007.
Its sister company Temasek, fared even worse, with a 70% plunge in the value of Merrill Lynch, and a 59% plummet in the value of Citigroup. Even Standard Chartered, supposedly the most stable in the Government's portfolio, has sunk 33.4% based on Friday Oct 10th's closing price of 999.5 p.
Temasek committed another heinous fiasco down under, losing almost S$500 million in the bankrupt ABC Learning after buying at the peak in 2007.
It's also famously losing a vast proportion of its US$3 billion in Shin Corp of Thailand, after the shares plunged over 60% due to Thais' objections and it therefore facilitated an illegality(tax evasion by the former owner Thaksin Shinawatra). Also, it has to pare down its stake to 75% in a falling market.
Due to the recent market selldown, the value of Temasek and GIC's holdings in GLCs like SIA, DBS and such has also plummeted by S$40 billion.
This makes the grand total of deterioration in the Singapore government's portfolio close to S$80 billion, necessitating a hike in transport fares, ERP charges and utility rates to recoup their losses. In 2008, The Economist reported that Morgan Stanley had estimated the fund's assets at US$330 billion[1], making it world's third largest sovereign wealth fund.[2]
[edit] References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Singapore_Investment_Corporation
GIC's investment portfolio is managed by its three subsidiaries: GIC Asset Management Pte Ltd (public markets), GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd and GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd (private-equity investments).
In 2007, GIC invested S$14 billion foolishly in UBS, a bank whose value has plunged over 60% since that time, meaning that a . S$8.4 billion dollar loss has already been inflicted on Singaporeans.
GIC's stake in ICICI Bank of India, originally hugely profitable, has bungee-jumped 74% down from a peak of 1400 rupees, turning their originally profitable investment into a loss-making one, taking into consideration their average down cost since 2007.
Its sister company Temasek, fared even worse, with a 70% plunge in the value of Merrill Lynch, and a 59% plummet in the value of Citigroup. Even Standard Chartered, supposedly the most stable in the Government's portfolio, has sunk 33.4% based on Friday Oct 10th's closing price of 999.5 p.
Temasek committed another heinous fiasco down under, losing almost S$500 million in the bankrupt ABC Learning after buying at the peak in 2007.
It's also famously losing a vast proportion of its US$3 billion in Shin Corp of Thailand, after the shares plunged over 60% due to Thais' objections and it therefore facilitated an illegality(tax evasion by the former owner Thaksin Shinawatra). Also, it has to pare down its stake to 75% in a falling market.
Due to the recent market selldown, the value of Temasek and GIC's holdings in GLCs like SIA, DBS and such has also plummeted by S$40 billion.
This makes the grand total of deterioration in the Singapore government's portfolio close to S$80 billion, necessitating a hike in transport fares, ERP charges and utility rates to recoup their losses. In 2008, The Economist reported that Morgan Stanley had estimated the fund's assets at US$330 billion[1], making it world's third largest sovereign wealth fund.[2]
[edit] References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Singapore_Investment_Corporation
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