Asia Times
By Alex Au
SINGAPORE – If there were any lingering questions about Singapore’s standing in the eyes of the world’s major global institutional investors, the city state’s recent moves to take multi-billion dollar strategic stakes in top-notch Western banks and companies hit by subprime mortgage problems has put those doubts to rest.
Last month, Singapore’s state-run Government Investment Corporation (GIC) divvied up US$9.5 billion to purchase convertible notes in troubled Swiss investment bank UBS. Depending on the notes' final conversion price, the transaction is expected to give GIC a 9% stake in the bank, making it UBS’s largest shareholder.
Days later, state investment vehicle Temasek Holdings paid US$5 billion for a 9.4% stake in Merrill Lynch, a US investment bank that like UBS has been particularly hard hit by subprime-related problems. And earlier this week GIC took a 3% stake in British Land, a commercial property outfit that has recently seen its shares drastically dip in value.
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