1st Feb 2008
The FINANCIAL -- According to Dow Jones, government of Singapore Investment Corp., or GIC, has raised its stake in UK insurance company Friends Provident PLC (FP.LN) to 1.02%, Friends Provident said in a regulatory filing in the U.K. on January 31.
GIC has purchased 119,038 shares for GBP1.57 each, the filing said.
With the purchase, GIC now holds 23.68 million shares in the insurance company.
Sovereign wealth funds like GIC and Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. (TEMAH.YY) have been buying stakes in financial institutions that are suffering credit losses stemming from the U.S. subprime crisis.
Recently, GIC has invested billions of dollars to acquire stakes in UBS AG (UBS) and Citigroup Inc. (C), and has said that it is open to more acquisitions if they are worthwhile.
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