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Investment Themes

Since Temasek’s inception, our mandate has remained the same: to invest, manage and add value to our portfolio as an owner of our assets and investments. In 32 years our total portfolio value has grown from S$350 million, to S$129 billion. We operate on a flexible investment horizon, and have the option of taking concentrated risks, with the choice to remain in cash if the returns do not justify the risks. As a shareholder, we regularly monitor the performance of our existing portfolio companies and investments, and actively engage our stakeholders. We do not direct the commercial or operational decisions of our portfolio companies, except where shareholder approval is specifically required.
We continue to build our exposure to Asia through four investment themes:

Rising Asian Economies
Growing Middle Class
Deepening Comparative Advantages
Emerging Champions

Rising Asian Economies
As Asian economies grow and connect into the global market, we are looking at industry sectors that correlate with the economic transformation of the country, as well as companies that serve the growing middle class. Some of these sectors include financial, energy, infrastructure, entertainment and even primary industries. Our investments include China Construction Bank and Bank of China in China, Shrinigar Cinemas, Reliance Energy and Apollo Healthstreet in India, Japan’s i-Logistics Corporation, and Cargill’s oil palm plantations in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Additionally, to widen our exposure in emerging Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa, we have acquired an 11.5% stake in Standard Chartered.

Growing Middle Class
As Asia develops, a growing middle class with increasing purchasing power will drive demand for services such as telecommunications, healthcare and consumer finance. In India, we built on the successful roll-out of Danamon Simpan Pinjam for Indonesia’s small savings and loan market by investing in First India Credit Corporation, which provides financing programmes for the growing segment of small and medium enterprises. In Russia and the former Soviet Union, we have partnered with Troika Dialog Asset Management to establish the Russia New Growth Fund LP for investments. We have also taken stakes in Vietnam’s leading confectionery maker Kinh Do.

Deepening Comparative Advantages
The Asian region offers both a competitive manufacturing base and a growing market for consumption. In this respect, Temasek has investments in bioscience, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare services, as well as energy and other resources. We joined a Rolls-Royce-led US$100 million consortium to fuel environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient power generation. We also partnered with Zuellig and Quintiles to form a pharmaceutical sales and commercialization joint venture, Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical, which has representatives in 11 Asian economies. We have also committed to a venture capital fund, GSR Ventures, which will focus on wireless, Internet, new media, semiconductor and other technology-rich companies in China.

Emerging Champions
As Asia grows, certain Asian companies are emerging as regional or global leaders of their industry sectors. These include automobile makers Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra in India, which are recognized as leaders in innovative design, engineering and best industry practices. These strengths are fueling their expansion into the rest of Asia and the world.