Guardian.co.uk
25 Jun 2008
Temasek Holdings
The investment arm of the government of Singapore. It was founded in 1975 to handle the administration's stakes in a range of companies, and now manages more than £50bn.
Temasek already held a 2.1% stake in Barclays, having invested last July – and incurred significant paper losses as the UK bank's shares kept falling since. It is also nursing a loss having invested billions of dollars in Merrill Lynch.
In 2006, there were riots in Thailand after Temasek bought Shin Corporation, a conglomerate owned by the family of then Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
After Shinawatra was overthrown later that year, the military rulers that replaced him ordered Temasek to sell the stake, although it still appears on its list of investments.
Click Here To Read Full Article
