Search the Community

Title : Two town councils invested S$12m in Lehman-related structured products By : Date : 17 November 2008 1646 hrs (SST) URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin.../390407/1/.html SINGAPORE: The financial health of two Singapore town councils remains in the black despite their investments in failed Lehman-linked structured products. Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Councils invested a combined S$12 million using their sinking funds. Going forward, the co-ordinating chairman of PAP town councils, Dr Teo Ho Pin, said future investments will remain diversified but will be on the conservative side. Just like thousands of Singaporean investors who have lost money on failed Lehman-linked structured products, the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council may lose its S$8 million investment. The town council invested 6.7 per cent of its sinking funds available for investment in Lehman Brothers' Minibond Notes, DBS High Notes 5 and Merrill Lynch's Jubilee Series 3 Notes. It had invested another S$3 million in Pinnacle Notes Series 6, but this investment was unaffected. For Pasir Ris-Punggol, its S$4 million investments in the Minibond Series 2 and 3 amounted to 2.6 per cent of its funds. Based on the 14 PAP town councils' latest financial statements submitted to the National Development Ministry, these investments amounted to 0.6 per cent of their total funds of S$2 billion. Like many others, the town councils are anxiously waiting to see if the Lehman Minibond notes will be making dividend payments next month. Dr Teo Ho Pin, chairman, Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council, said: "If there is a credit event that occurs next month for the Lehman Brothers' Minibond, then that will be a default and... there'll be a loss on that investment." Town councils can invest up to 35 per cent of their sinking funds in financial instruments like equities, corporate bonds and funds. Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council said while its investment income will be reduced as a result of the failed investment, its financial status remains in the black and improvement works will not be affected. During a six-year period starting from 2002, the return on its investments totalled about S$24 million. As of March 31 this year, it also has a total kitty of S$118 million. Over the last six years, the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council made a healthy investment return of more than four per cent every year. This is well above the average fixed deposit return of 0.9 per cent. With the investment income, the town council has been able to deal with the impact of inflation. Dr Teo continued: "Our assurance to our residents is that the sinking fund is still intact. We have adopted a very prudent approach in terms of investing our funds. "We have to continue to adopt a diversified investment strategy so we are able to achieve healthy returns for our town council funds, cyclical maintenance purposes and we have to balance between investment risk and returns." Six other PAP-run town councils also have exposure to Lehman Brothers through their fund managers' investment portfolio. These investments total some S$4 million and account for less than one per cent of each town council's funds available for investments. The National Development Ministry said it has no plans to amend the investment guidelines it has put in place as town councils are in the best position to decide how to manage the funds. Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu told Parliament on Monday it was not practical nor desirable for the ministry to be overly prescriptive in enforcing the guidelines, which seek to achieve an optimal balance between reasonable returns and financial prudence. Hougang and Potong Pasir Town Councils, the two that are managed by opposition MPs, have earlier said they do not have any investments related to Lehman Brothers products and their sinking funds are not affected by the failed financial instruments. - CNA/vm Copyright

I find that the rear tyres of the right side tire pressure always losses more air faster than the rest of the tyres. The reason i say that is becos i need to pump more air into that tire everytime i pump air every 2weeks. The rear passenger is my 3yr of son with a booster seat. and Boot are nothing fill up with heavy stuff. Can someone advise? Thanks

Saw the evening news paper headline. Sigh. I pity the 30K members. And I am sure the members will believe what what she is going to say. "I do it in the name of Christ to bring God's word to the black in USA, the losses is nothing compare to the priceless God's word" To me it looks like a classic pattern of commercial crime if there is the intent to do so. And is this the best way to "wash" the $ to make it become yours? Any comment?

SINGAPORE, Feb 17, 2009 (AFP) - Government of Singapore Investment Corp, which has helped bail out troubled global financial institutions, suffered an investment loss of about 50 billion Singapore dollars (33 billion US) last year, sources told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT In late 2007 and early last year GIC injected billions of dollars into Swiss bank UBS as well as US banking giant Citigroup, both of which suffered massive losses from US subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage investments. Subprime troubles later evolved into the worldwide financial slowdown. "The loss on the investment portfolio last year is estimated at around 45 billion to 50 billion," one of two people familiar with the GIC situation told Dow Jones. "But, GIC has no thoughts to sell down any of its major investments. They'll wait until they recover." UBS this month posted an annual loss of 17 billion US dollars, the largest in Swiss corporate history, and announced 2,000 new job cuts. A second person said GIC's investment loss last year was "recently estimated to be similar to Temasek's." The portfolio of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, which helped bail out Wall Street icon Merrill Lynch, fell about 31 percent over eight months last year, Senior Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua told parliament last week. She said Temasek's portfolio of investments fell to 127 billion dollars at the end of November, down 58 billion from 185 billion dollars on March 31 last year. Lim said it was not the first time GIC and Temasek had seen major declines in markets, and that GIC had "creditable returns" over the 20-year period to late 2008. Asked for comment on the Dow Jones report, a GIC spokesman said the firm did not comment on "speculative reports". GIC, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, in September said its nominal rate of return over the 20 years to March 31 last year was 7.8 percent in US dollar terms. "Temasek and GIC are long-term investors, and should be evaluated as such," Lim said. "GIC and Temasek have the ability and resources to weather the ups and downs, over multiple economic and market cycles." No wonder i see lesser bankers at newton getting drunk recently... business oso not so good for some bbq seafood store.

Heard the news headline. There were 85,000 job losses (globally) in just a single day, today (27th Jan 2009). IBM has cut 2,800 jobs and Qimonda has filed for bankruptcy. The economic situation looks very scary.

By Saskia Scholtes and Greg Farrell in New York Published: January 7 2009 23:13 | Last updated: January 7 2009 23:13 Temasek, the Singapore state investment fund, is sitting on significant paper losses related to its stake in Merrill Lynch, the investment bank acquired by Bank of America last week. The state agency

There goes tax payers $$$ ... Temasek will be one of the biggest casualties. It took a 12 per cent stake worth about A$400 million last year, buying in when the shares were at A$7.30 only to see the stock plummet to 54 Australian cents before they were suspended. http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNew...ory_300845.html

Una Galani Sovereign wealth funk http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf...Q6?OpenDocument Sovereign funds are licking their wounds. When the credit-crisis began to unfold last year, they rushed to the aid of Western banks providing some $US50 billion of equity and mandatory convertibles. Now, these look to be terrible investments. The weighted average of the shares is down by 40 per cent, according to a breakingviews calculation. The worst performer would have been China