It is now the turn of the Far Eastern Economic Review to publish a profile of Temasek Capital’s recent large investments in India. Some extracts:
Temasek’s drive into India is part of an aggressive diversification plan, sparked by executive director Ho Ching, who is also the wife of Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The company plans to reduce its exposure to Singapore from around 75% today to 33% over the next six years. It plans to have another third of its money in developed markets such as Japan and the United States and a third in developing Asian markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and India.
The stakes for the city-state are high. Singapore wants to create a cadre of global companies in order to diversify its economy, which is still reliant on electronics manufacturing and has seen some of that core business shift to China. Corporate Singapore can wring little more from its own economy, so its cash-rich companies and Temasek have to invest abroad to grow….
For a state-owned colossus Temasek has been surprisingly nimble in India, investors say. “They are fairly savvy investment professionals, but their biggest advantage is being able to move quickly,” says Puneet Bhatia, managing director of Newbridge Capital, a private-equity fund that has invested in some of the same companies as Temasek….
Indian companies have welcomed Temasek as an investor because it has a history of sticking with its investments for more than five years, where other private-equity investors might look to cash out as early as three years into an investment. “We were very interested in finding a strategic investor who would not just give us money, but would also help us develop business,” says Rahul Basu, chief financial officer of outsourcing company ICICI OneSource in Mumbai. Temasek reportedly invested around $30 million in the company in August.
Temasek can also provide instant access to Singapore’s top companies. The top executives of ICICI OneSource, for example, took a tour of other Temasek-linked companies in September in the hope of generating more business.
Click Here to read the full article.
Temasek in India now this is interesting and more pervasive than many people realize. I watch with great interestall of the reports on this Singapore goverment giant that wants to rule Asia.
Temasek is currently funding a ploy to own the pharmaceutical distribution industry not only in India but Asia wide. In effect they will control supply and price of all big pharma products in Asia.
Temasek is buying Zuellig Pharma Asia from the family Zuellig shareholder for a price that equates to 40 times earnings! So they really want it. Why?
Because with the demise of Diethelm Keller, Zuellig Pharma’s only real competitor in Asia (see the Philippine press re Diethelm bankruptcy all over Asia) Zuellig Pharma has almost a monopoly on the distribution of pharmaceuticals in Asia which means the Singapore government controls all pharmaceuticals in Asia.
fact: Zuellig Pharma the company imports, sells and supplies almost 80% of all drugs and pharmaceuticals across 17 countries in Asia.
But it gets better. Zuellig has started up in India in unison with 5 or 6 big name BIG Pharma companies. Meaning Temasek by default will have the same access and influence in Asia and at the same time Temasek is spending millions on investing in Indian generic pharmaceutical manufacturers via their Pharmalink investment. And no surprise the Pharmalink company was sold to them by Zuellig Pharma.
Now what will the governments of Asia think when they realizs thart the Singapore governement will soon be able to tell them what pharmaceuticals and vaccines they can have and at whet price? I’m sure the Thailand government won’t be too happy with their current battles with Temasek and well published disagreements with Abbott a BIG Pharma company.
The tentacle of Temasek are all pervasisve. The India investments are obvious in their nature and intent and whilst maybe a good business play may not be the best for us mortals on the ground.
And I can’t quite see how the Big Pharma companies go along with this when they are at war with generic manufacturers unless Temasek is intending to wipe them out as well through aquisitions and then pump up Big Pharma prices by holding us all to ransom as they own the supply.
This octopus should scare us all.