Temasek Holdings

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Temasek Holdings invests in online shopping mall operator Lazada
Published on Nov 29, 2014 10:27 PM


Temasek Holdings has taken a stake in Lazada Group, the operator of a leading Southeast Asia online shopping mall. -- PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Temasek Holdings has taken a stake in Lazada Group, the operator of a leading Southeast Asia online shopping mall.

Temasek is among a group of investors who are putting in 200 million euros. The group includes Rocket Internet, Kinnevik and Verlinvest who had invested in Lazada earlier.

Maximilian Bittner, CEO of Lazada Group, said, "This investment provides us with the strategic flexibility to further anchor our leadership position and enhance the shopping experience for our customers. We are extremely delighted to welcome Temasek as a new investor and long-term local partner and we are also very grateful for the continued confidence of our existing investors. To us, it is a clear recognition of our leading regional footprint, and an affirmation of the growth strategy and potential of our business."

He added, "The e-commerce market in Southeast Asia is still in its early days and we will continue to invest in our operations to enhance our customer experience."

Since its operational launch in 2012, Lazada has expanded rapidly with operations in six countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - as well as a sourcing centre in

Hong Kong that drives cross-border marketplace activities.

Sales on Lazada's websites and mobile applications have approximately doubled since June 2014. A key driver of the growth has been Lazada's Marketplace, a platform for third-party merchants. With Marketplace sales increasing more than 10 times since January 2014, the platform now accounts for approximately 70 per cent of Lazada's overall monthly sales.

Lazada plans to use the additional funds to expand and improve its logistics infrastructure, payment solutions and IT systems to enhance the shopping experience for its customers.

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Singapore's GIC-led group in talks to buy IndCor from Blackstone-source
SINGAPORE Tue Nov 4, 2014 12:11am EST

CORRECTED-Hilton says Blackstone to cut stake in co by 14 pct

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Nov 4 (Reuters) - Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte is leading a consortium to buy U.S.-based IndCor Properties from Blackstone Group in a deal valued at about $8 billion including debt, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

IndCor was formed in 2010 as a portfolio company of Blackstone and has a footprint of warehouses and distribution centres across the United States, according to the company website.

GIC has stepped up its real estate purchases in recent months, buying office buildings in Tokyo and investing in Australian student accommodation as a way to diversify its portfolio and secure better yields.

"Talks are still ongoing, we don't know whether there will be a deal yet," said the person, who declined to be identified as the discussions are confidential.

A spokeswoman for GIC declined to comment, while Blackstone did not reply to an email seeking comment sent after business hours in New York.

Chicago-based IndCor said in September it had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. GIC is seeking $5 billion in debt to finance the acquisition, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 4.

GIC is estimated by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute to manage around $320 billion in assets. Real estate accounted for 7 percent of its portfolio in the financial year to April 1, according to its annual report. (Reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Writing by Denny Thomas; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-4925-...#pid102343

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http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-344-p...#pid102563

[CityFarmer]

High-frequency trading is a controversial...

DJ Temasek to Buy 10% of High-Frequency Trading Firm Virtu Financial

By Bradley Hope
Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., Singapore's state investment firm, agreed to buy 10% of high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial LLC for about $200 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The $2 billion valuation is at the lower end of the range Virtu expected to see with a proposed initial public offering earlier this year, the people said.

Virtu postponed the IPO in April amid market turbulence and increased regulatory scrutiny of high-frequency trading and hasn't said when it might proceed with the offering.

Temasek will acquire the shares in Virtu from private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners LLC, which bought a roughly 20% stake in Virtu in 2011 in connection with its purchase of Madison Tyler Holdings LLC, another high-frequency trading firm.

Temasek is also an investor in Silver Lake, according to the company.

The deal with Temasek will allow Silver Lake to cash out of part of its Virtu investment without an IPO.
...
Source: Dow Jones

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GIC's change of tack lets it seize investment opportunities
Published on Dec 10, 2014 1:46 AM


GIC's change of strategy means it can now pounce if an opportunity worth capturing comes along, as in the case of its investment in New York's Time Warner Centre (above) early this year. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

GIC's change of strategy means it can now pounce if an opportunity worth capturing comes along, as in the case of its investment in New York's Time Warner Centre (above) early this year. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
GIC president Lim Siong Guan says the "new approach gives us the flexibility to pursue whatever investment opportunity comes along".
Mr Lim Chow Kiat says GIC's old way of generating returns by "holding diversified assets and just kind of waiting" will not work any more.

MR LIM Chow Kiat has a calm demeanour and a dimpled smile. The 44-year-old man is known as someone who does not stray from his habitual ways.

But these days, Mr Lim's role at GIC is all about breaking old habits. He and his boss, group president Lim Siong Guan, 67, are steering GIC through a major overhaul designed to squeeze higher returns from the fund's investments, Bloomberg Markets will report in its January issue.

Except for Mr Lim Siong Guan, none of GIC's top eight execs has been on the executive committee for more than five years; that includes Mr Lim Chow Kiat, who became group CIO last year.

Since then, GIC has moved away from its endowment model of strategic asset allocation to become one of the world's most aggressive sovereign wealth funds. It can now pounce if an opportunity worth capturing comes along, as in the case of its investment in New York's Time Warner Centre early this year.

Like investors of all stripes, GIC is fighting against the tide of slowing global growth and low interest rates.

GIC is now one of the 10 largest funds of its kind in the world. It is ranked sixth largest by the London-based Sovereign Wealth Centre and eighth largest by the Las Vegas-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. The research firms say GIC manages US$315 billion to US$320 billion (S$416 billion to S$423 billion); GIC says only that it manages "well over US$100 billion".

Sovereign Wealth Centre director Victoria Barbary says that, in the first six months this year, GIC made 33 direct investments with a total value of US$4.65 billion. "With the new investment framework, GIC is looking for idiosyncratic opportunities," she says.

GIC found a niche in e-commerce and tech investments before other sovereign wealth funds did, she says. In July, for example, GIC invested an undisclosed sum in Flipkart.com, India's biggest online retailer. "GIC is incredibly sophisticated. It's way ahead of some of its peers."

GIC started investing in private equity and real estate in the early 1980s, ahead of its rivals. Its "savvy investment team consistently demonstrates a strong understanding and view of changing markets, sectors and geographies", says Mr David Bonderman, co-founder of Texas-based TPG Capital, which has been an investment partner of GIC.

Early signs of change came to GIC in 2009 when Mr Lim Siong Guan was appointed to the new position of GIC president, two years after joining the firm as group managing director.

Mr Lim says the decision to review the fund's investment approach came in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. GIC poured 11 billion Swiss francs into UBS Group AG in December 2007. The following month, it spent US$6.88 billion on Citigroup Securities. The sub-prime mortgage meltdown in the US hit those investments hard. While the Citigroup investment has made a profit of US$1.6 billion, GIC has said its timing on UBS could have been better.

"With the global financial crisis, you obviously have to sit back and think, 'What can we learn?'" Mr Lim says. "'What is it that we can do better going forward?'" As the new strategy took effect in April last year, GIC shifted away from its asset-allocation strategy to a more active approach. Its fund managers can now deviate from GIC's portfolio if there is an opportunity to beat the market.

"The way of generating returns through holding diversified assets and just kind of waiting would not work well any more," CIO Lim says. GIC is working with more than 100 private equity managers to source deals and co-invest. It has direct investments in more than 100 companies and is ploughing more and more money into direct deals such as Netshoes, a Brazilian online sporting goods retailer. Since the end of last year, GIC, already one of the world's top 10 investors in real estate, has purchased not only an undisclosed stake in the Time Warner Centre but also a 50 per cent share of the Broadgate complex in London's financial district and full ownership of the office component of Tokyo's Pacific Century Place Marunouchi.

GIC agreed to buy Chicago- based IndCor Properties, one of the largest owners of US industrial real estate, together with Global Logistic Properties from Blackstone for US$8.1 billion.

In 2012, GIC began a major review of its investment strategy, only its second such. It also sought advice from a few prominent financiers, including Mr G. Leonard Baker, a partner at Sutter Hill Ventures in California.

For pointers, GIC looked to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which manages C$234.4 billion (S$271 billion). It pioneered the opportunity cost model of active investment in which more complex and costly opportunities are evaluated against the foregone opportunities to invest in passive low-cost stocks and bonds.

"The new approach gives us the flexibility to pursue whatever investment opportunity comes along," Mr Lim Siong Guan says.

GIC's 20-year nominal annual rate of return for the year ended March 31 was 6.5 per cent in US dollar terms. That compares favourably with its nominal annual return of 5.7 per cent during the 20 years through March 31, 2009 - a period that encompassed the global financial crisis.

In the 37th-floor lobby of GIC's headquarters at Capital Tower, an aphorism from its late deputy chairman Goh Keng Swee is inscribed on a wall. "The more you save and the more wisely you invest, the faster you get rich." CIO Lim says: "It sounds so simple." He smiles, adding: "But simple things are hard to do."

BLOOMBERG

[thor666]

Somehow I think this is not going to end well. A well diversified portfolio will still appreciate and provide decent returns over time. I find the last paragraph to be pretty ironic.. How is active investing in new business models a "simple thing"?

Sent from my D5503 using Tapatalk

[specuvestor]

Depends on what they mean by "active" approach since asset allocation approach is supposed to be more long term looking, which explains why they invested in financials during GFC, because long term wise bulge brackets likely to surivive due to systemic risk... until Lehman happened

And like I posted, for long term investing, timing does matter
"GIC has said its timing on UBS could have been better"

[touzi]

Wouldn't this change make GIC more like Temasek? The whole purpose of having both is because they have different charter so why make them more alike? GIC has a simple objective which is to preserve the value of the reserve so they have always appeared more conservative compared to Temasek.

[specuvestor]

They used to be very distinct but I don't know what is the difference between the 2 anymore. GIC is under pressure also because they are managing CPF money.

IMHO Temasek should have continued to be a "PE fund" instead of listed equities. Fullerton is also confused. That's what happens when you start focusing on PnL instead of strategic sense.