Temasek took US$4.6 BILLION LOST in BOA

London Evening Standard
15.05.09

Temasek, the Singaporean government's investment arm, has sold its
entire 3.8% stake in Bank of America (BoA) at a huge loss, prompting
speculation that it might also cut its stake in Barclays as it
switches its focus to emerging markets.

The Singaporeans would not say how much the BoA stake was sold for,
simply acknowledging that it had been reduced to zero during the first
three months of this year.

The fund will have lost almost $4 billion (£2.6 billion) on the stake
which it picked up as a result of its failed attempt to bail-out
Merrill Lynch which was eventually taken over by BoA.

Temasek first came to Merrill's aid in December 2007 and again in July
2008, investing a total of $5 billion in new equity.

Those shares converted into BoA shares after the takeover.

Although Temasek refused to say how much it sold the shares for, based
on BoA's average price of $6.73 during the first quarter, the stake
would have fetched $1.27 billion.

Since the end of March BoA shares have risen by more than 60%.

Temasek bought its 1.6% stake in Barclays as part of the British
bank's aborted attempt to take over Dutch bank ABN Amro.

The Singaporeans paid 720p a share for the stake at a cost of £972
million.

Today that stake is worth just £370 million.

From: "truth"
Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 11:59:43 GMT
Local: Fri, May 15 2009 7:59 pm
Subject: Re: Temasek lost US$4.6 BILLION in BOA ...What happened to LKY's 30 years long term investment !!!

At the rate they are losing our money, our
reserve will be gone in no time.
The disgusting and more dangerous thing than
losing such huge $ is that they still considered
themselves to be perfoming well and rewarding
themselves with huge pay and bonus. Just look
at the pay increment of ceos of GLCs and
u will be worried. Declining profit and share
price but they are getting more.


"kingkong" wrote in message

> The reality is Temasek Holdings is running out of cash.

> Why ? Because many its GLCs and investment entities are making cash call.
> Since Temasek Holdings are their biggest investors, it has to subsribe all
> their shares.

> In the recent HSBC and Standard Chartered cash call, how much did Temasek
> Holding paid ?

> If Temasek Holdings is seriously short of cash, they will need to sell
> away Singtel, MediaCorp, DBS bank, SembCorp, etc, etc, at cheap cheap
> price.

> "baldeagle" wrote in message
> news:75ede46b-c194-47ea-a508-d40fe9f81987@s38g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On May 15, 6:30 pm, "kingkong" wrote:

>> Temasek Holdings actually sold BOA stock at 2009 lowest price. This is a
>> very bad move.

> Over SIN $7 billions dollars lost....our hard earned
> saving gone. ...Singapore is that much poorer.

> No long ago...when questioned on the wisdom of
> investing in US banks...on the wisdom of buying
> more US bank shares when Citi and Merrill Lynch
> were in serious trouble, losing billions.... LKY and
> PM Lee said: Singapore is in for the long terms..
> 30 years.
> May be LKY should explain...for the stupidity
> of his investment strategy.

From: "truth"
Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 15:28:14 GMT
Local: Fri, May 15 2009 11:28 pm
Subject: Re: Temasek took US$4.6 BILLION LOST in BOA

Rumour has it that they have sold off some of
their citi investments.
They turned very pessimistic around the time
when their chief economist told a public
seminar that the US banking losses will be
US$4 trillion. That was the lowest point on
the American stock.


"Zai Zai" wrote in message

>I think citibank will also be the same, just you watch.

> "truth" wrote in message
> news:6ffPl.11217$y61.1249@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>> What then is their intention ?


>> "Zai Zai" wrote in message
>> news:hQdPl.1266$wR5.538@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
>>> They never had the intention of making profit right from the start.


>>> "truth" wrote in message
>>> news:tLcPl.11183$y61.5515@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>>>> They have never been good in timing. Infact from
>>>> their past records, they are one of the worst in
>>>> timing.


>>>> "kingkong" wrote in message
>>>> news:guj75s$9va$1@reader01.singnet.com.sg...
>>>>> They probably sold too early ?


>>>>> BOA stock is now trading at US$11.00. Talk about poor timing.


>>>>> Unless they need the money desperately, don't see why they can't wait
>>>>> till end of the year to sel and lose US$4 billion.


>>>>> wrote in message
>>>>> news:38c742ae-aaaa-4e14-a578-daaffd6aff13@g31g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
>>>>> On May 15, 1:56 pm, "truth" wrote:
>>>>>> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aumryEvv62Rw&refe...


>>>>> The number looks more like in the ballpark ...


>>>>> Temasek invested $5.9 billion


>>>>> With 188.8 million shares @ ave price $8, you will get back $1.5
>>>>> billion.


>>>>> So the lost is $5.9 billion - $1.5 billion = $4.4 billion.