Singapore’s Temasek Reports 5% Loss After ‘Most Challenging Year for Markets’

Singaporean state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Ltd. reported a 5.07% loss for the fiscal year that ended March 31, as its total asset value fell to S$382 billion ($287.19 billion) from S$403 billion a year earlier. The loss, its worst performance since 2016, nearly wiped out all of the previous year’s gains; Temasek ended fiscal 2021 at S$381 billion.

“2022 has been the most challenging year for markets over the last decade,” Temasek’s chairman, Lim Boon Heng, said in a release.

Over the shorter term, the firm reported three- and 10-year returns of 8% and 6%, respectively. Over the longer term, it reported 20-, 30- and 40-year returns of 9%, 11% and 12%, respectively. Temasek’s total shareholder return is 14% since its inception in 1974.

Temasek’s interest expense was approximately 5% of its S$11 billion in dividend income, and it had S$22 billion of debt outstanding, as of the end of March.

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“We maintain a cautious investment stance and expect to invest at a moderated pace this financial year, given the challenging macroeconomic environment,” Temasek CIO Rohit Sipahimalani said in a release. “However, given our strong liquidity position, we are ready to step up our investments in a market correction.”

Sipahimalani said that in the near term, Singapore will see slowing global growth and elevated inflation, combined with a “challenging macro backdrop,” adding that, “while China’s reopening could provide some support, the Singapore economy is geared more towards domestic demand in developed markets, which could experience a recession.”

Temasek reported that over the past 10 years, it has invested S$326 billion, and that its net portfolio value has increased by S$167 billion during that time. Additionally, Temasek stated that over the last decade, its Singapore exposure is up S$42 billion, and its unlisted exposure has nearly doubled to 53% from 27%.

According to the company, its unlisted portfolio has generated returns of more than 10% per year on an internal rate of return basis and has provided higher returns than its listed portfolio. It cited holdings such as Adyen, Meituan and Roblox that have listed with “significant value uplift” over the past five years.