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Temasek launches office in New York City

SINGAPORE — Temasek Holdings’ new office in New York City reflects the sovereign wealth fund’s confidence in the vibrancy of the United States’ economy and its companies, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday evening (Friday morning, Singapore time) at the official launch of the office.

SINGAPORE — Temasek Holdings’ new office in New York City reflects the sovereign wealth fund’s confidence in the vibrancy of the United States’ economy and its companies, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday evening (Friday morning, Singapore time) at the official launch of the office.

The reason for this confidence is the US’ “indomitable spirit of possibility”, and Singapore has backed its conviction with investments — the US accounts for a significant proportion of Temasek and GIC’s portfolios, said Mr Lee to about 270 guests comprising mainly corporate leaders such as JP Morgan chief executive James Dimon and Goldman Sachs head of government affairs for Asia-Pacific and former US Ambassador to Singapore David Adelman. Temasek chairman Lim Boon Heng and executive director and chief executive Ho Ching were also at the event, held at Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

Temasek’s US office will facilitate its investments in new growth sectors such as energy, healthcare, new media and technology, and link up with its offices in Mexico City and Sao Paolo to seize opportunities in the entire American continent, said Mr Lee.

Mr Lim said in his speech that Temasek, which had a portfolio of S$215 billion at end-March 2013, is not a conventional sovereign investor. Unlike most sovereign wealth funds, Temasek pays taxes and distributes dividends like any other private commercial company, he said. It invests its own balance sheet and does not have windfalls from resource wealth, with funds coming primarily from dividends received from portfolio companies and proceeds from investment activities.

Temasek invests for the long-term but also has its eye on the opportunities of tomorrow’s digital world, said Mr Lim. Just last month, it conducted a company-wide Bitcoin experiment with everyone, from driver to board member, learning how to donate to chosen charities from his Bitcoin wallet.

Mr Lee said Temasek’s interests are part of Singapore’s broad ties with the US. Singapore is the Asia or regional headquarters for over 2,000 American companies, and Singapore companies are also active in the US, he said. When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in early 2010, the undersea oil gusher was eventually plugged with the support of three rigs built by Temasek companies Keppel Corporation and SembCorp Industries. Singapore companies have supported about 40,000 jobs in the US so far.

Earlier in the day when speaking to Singapore media at the end of his six-day working trip, Mr Lee said there is a lot of desire in the US business community to do more in Singapore, despite stricter curbs on foreign labour in the Republic.

Some American businessmen knew about immigration issues in Singapore and Mr Lee said he explained to them what Singapore’s difficulties were, as well as choices and measures being taken. “I think I convinced them that we very much had in mind the importance of keeping the economy vibrant and able to grow and improve year by year, and attractive to them,” he said.

“One of the companies I met is moving their Asia-Pacific headquarters into Singapore, another told me how his company had an acquisition to make and ran into some issues, and then (the Economic Development Board) was extremely helpful to them. So I think it’s that very important that we maintain this reputation, so they will want to come in. And then we can create the jobs, and then we can improve our standards of living.”

In his speech at the Temasek office launch, Mr Lee cited companies such as ExxonMobil, which recently opened its largest petrochemical plant in Singapore, as well as KPMG, which is going to set up a centre of excellence on cybersecurity in the Republic.

Asked about the state of the US economy after meeting with top economic officials and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in recent days, Mr Lee said he did not have a “magic answer”.

“Inherently you’re talking about an economy which takes a direction which you can’t completely predict,” he said. “There’s a large contingent element to this, and what you really want to know is not exactly what (the Federal Reserve) will do, but that there are people whom we can all have confidence in, whose hands are on the controls, and I think that’s the most important thing.”

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