Temasek says portfolio improving

CEO Ho Ching said company’s early move reaps 32 percent growth in investment.

Temasek said in an annual report that the value of its investments jumped 32 percent to US$122 billion between March and July, as reported in Forbes.

The annual report was for the fiscal year ended 31 March. Temasek's release of its performance since that date underscores its sensitivity to criticism in Singapore of the big losses it suffered amid the financial crisis because of investments in global banks.

"We certainly did not anticipate the speed and depth of last year's global financial crisis," Chief executive Ho Ching said at a news conference. "However, our early move to increase our net cash position has served us well."

Ho, the wife of Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, said Temasek invested SG$9 billion from April 2008 to March 2009. That included SG$3 billion in rights issues for banks DBS and Standard Chartered, while divesting SG$16 billion from assets such as two Singaporean power generators.