Temasek to raise US$1.5billion via bond
Filed Under (World Finance) by fred on 20-10-2009
Tagged Under : Singapore, Temasek
Singaporean state investment company Temasek Holdings said it began selling US$1.5 billion of 10-year notes Tuesday, the sovereign wealth fund’s first bond sale since 2005.
The company said in a statement that through its unit, Temasek Financial, it will offer the bonds, which have a coupon of 4.3 percent, until Oct. 26.
Temasek declined to confirm media reports that it completed the sale Tuesday.
Temasek said it plans to use the money raised from the bond sale “to fund the ordinary course of business” of the company and its subsidiaries.
Temasek said last month that the value of its investments jumped 32 percent to 172 billion Singapore dollars (US$122 billion) in the four months ended July 31 amid a rally in global stock markets.
Its portfolio fell to SG$130 billion in March from SG$185 billion in March 2008.
Temasek sold $1.75 billion of 10-year bonds with a 4.5 percent coupon in 2005, the company’s first bond sale.
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance is Temasek’s only shareholder.
The company, which is smaller than the city-state’s other sovereign wealth fund, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., owns large stakes in many of the country’s biggest companies, including Singapore Telecommunications, DBS bank and Singapore Airlines.
