This morning everyone is passing around the Temasek report, in which Singapore’s sovereign wealth investment fund indicates that it still “sees value” in banking stocks in the US and Britain. Wall Street is acting like a girl who just found a crumpled note in a school desk with her name inside a heart. But before it swoons too deeply, it might want to check the other initials in the heart.
Temasek insists it’s not a sovereign wealth fund. It’s more open than many sovereign wealth funds, and more independent when it comes to investment decisions. It also claims that it is now a sovereign version of a closed end fund, unable to tap the state treasury for new funds. But it is 100% owned by the Sinapore Ministry of Finance, and suffers from many of the problems of state investment funds.
The one we’ll focus on the fact that Temasek probably has too much money to invest. It has far more assets than is necessary for hedging government portfolios against cyclical downturns. It would arguably do better to return a large portion of its wealth to the people of Singapore as a dividend, where individuals at different stages in their lives could spend and invest the dividend to suit their needs.
The over-supply of funds, together with Temasek’s compensation structure (executives have long-delayed bonus structures), encourage long-term risk taking that wouldn’t be acceptable for most investment funds. Temasek needs investment opportunities and when those are scarce, its portfolio managers need to look pretty deep into the chasms of the market. Given this structure, Temasek’s bets on US financials, such as its decision to at to its $5.9 billion investment in Merrill, is hardly a sign that US financials are likely to recover any time soon.
For more on Temasek’s financial company investments, see FT Alphaville’s take.
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- Use the Bloomberg command
NH BLG_DEALBREAKER <GO>
to access Dealbreaker
nice article. not too long. to the point. don’t get cocky now.
crumpled not => crumpled note
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=an2sIjEb_VBU&refer=worldwide
Does anyone have any mayo receipes that I could use for this weekends barbeque?
Spread mayo on a fillet of fish, then sprinkle old bays seasoning liberally over the mayo (both sides of the fillet), wrap the fillet in foil and put it in about a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. The fish will be fall apart tender. Put cilantro in the foil with the fish if you want and that will add a little extra flavor – not necessary though.
@4 – Try this classic Alabama White Sauce:
Ingredients
1 cup good-quality mayonnaise
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
Directions
Combine all of the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and whisk well to combine.
This is quite popular in northern Alabama as a BBQ sauce.
The Other Guy From Delaware
It feels good to be a singapore banker ! Watch out Wall St, Raffles Place is coming through…
anybody who bakes mayo is an idiot. That is a one way ticket to salmonella
Mayonnaise is made primarily of oil and eggs, key ingredients in every cake you’ve ever eaten, of course you can bake it.
Too long, didn’t read.
I have many Singaporean recipes, although none require mayo.
Singaporeans don’t go for mayo with their BBQ, especially the national favourite BBQ chilli sting-ray.
Mayo would totally mess up the sting-ray.
Hellman’s or Miracle Whip? (Each sounds a little dirty now that I think about it.)
These Singaporeans are loonies if they still believe Merrill will return to their pre-crisis glory days. But then again, what can they say except for being positive. They can’t exactly scream “Fire Fire Fire” when they have a big holding in the company.
The equity clawback Temasek holds will eventually bleed Merrill dry if the credit crisis does not go away.
DB please block the Mayo guy and all of his friends. They are fucking weak.
“together with Temasek’s compensation structure (executives have long-delayed bonus structures), encourage long-term risk taking that wouldn’t be acceptable for most investment funds.”
I thought the Street was wrong for paying people in the short term despite the long term risks. Now I understand that we’re wrong for being paid at all.
#14 eats my ass.
SPODE
I would not knock Temasek. The leaders of Singapore have created an amazing country – a jewel in SE Asia. Amazingly it was a swampy jungle only 40 years ago. If you could see this place now. I’ve lived here about a year and I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be, professionally and personally !
wtf is spode?
Guys and girls, thanks for all the mayo cooking tips, they sound great. Also @ 14 get a fucking sense of humor.
spode = penis (see urbandictionary.com)
17 I’ve been there for work. Only a certain type likes it. Its incredibly organized and clean and structured. My impression is that American expat wives are especially enamored. An easy place to hire a maid or two to do your dirty work with a smile. Plus the tennis and bridge clubs are great. But generally and uptight, boring place. Plus the climate sucks, as you point out. You’re in airconditioning 24/7. Like Houston. Food though is excellent, I’ll give you that. GAnalYst
@19, you need a sense of humor – the mayo comments are not funny, they’re tedious
22 Don’t you know, mayo comments are like graffiti. The writer enjoys nothing more than being recognized by others. Ignore it and it will soon disappear.
I think it’s awesome that the Mayo comment got taken to another level after I posted definition from Wikipedia into a thread.
That said, only Bess’s articles should get the Mayo. John’s are too serious.
Guest#17
You should read the internal email by Stanley Xie, the former Chief Economist of Asia of Morgan Stanley. He quite accurately summed up the rise of Singapore. You can view the bloomberg article here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDckvE7R7ts8&refer=home
Singapore has come a long way since separating from Malayisa. I do have great respect for Lee Kuan Yew (Harry Lee) for his leading role in creating the Singapore as we know it today. But Singapore is the biggest nanny state in the world.
I travel to Singapore regularly but I wouldn’t want to live there. It is very similar to Sydney Australia. The street signs have exactly the same color and even the traffic light buttons at the pedestrian crossings are exactly the same as the ones in Sydney. For Aussies on DB, Singapore is like Wynyard, Martin Place, Darling Harbour, Milsons Point, North Sydney, and Chatswood put together.
25 Huh? Agree with you there, but only to a point. Sydney rocks. Amazing beaches (Tamorama and Bondi are maybe 20 minutes by bus from downtown; Manly, which is on par with East Hampton, is a 30 minute ferry ride), good museum, great restaurants, stylish and interesting people. How can you compare with Singapore? GAnalYst
@22 – I try to ignore, but it doesn’t really seem to work the same with trolls as with actual people, in getting them to go away. At any rate I was reacting to the “get a sense of fucking humor” comment; if someone thinks the mayo shtick is funny they are a completely hopeless case.
#9… water can put out a fire, however hydrogen and oxygen are extremely flammable… Therefore your comment is irrelevant.
Besides, who would want to eat mayo that is warm and seperated, probably salty as well (at least that what your mom told me)
TO ALL YOU Mayo HATERS OUT THERE! Don’t hate the mayo hate the game!
We don’t hate Mayo. We just don’t care.
# 28 nice job on the mom crack.Your mom likes when i put mayo on my spode and dip it in cilantro.Thats her favorite recipe for mayo.
#24 you ankle biter you had nothing to do with the Mayo phenomana.You were most likely one of the initial nay-sayers. You fair weather douche.
and your mom didn’t complain when I shot a glob of mayo all over her.
#24 you ankle biter you had nothing to do with the Mayo phenomana.You were most likely one of the initial nay-sayers. You fair weather douche.
So, the song with the words, “drinkin’ wine spodey-odey, drinkin’ wine…’ is a song about small pricks? I thought that moniker was reserved for Sumitomo’s old copper traders.
~The Forehead Slapper
@15 well said
DB giving Temasek advice. I dunno but I think since Asian markets have been screwed over in the past due to lack of resources and inability to fight speculation, so having lots of funds in the government’s hand probably proves worthwhile for them. Giving huge dividends to the “the people” (similar to companies giving out all the cash to the stockholders) is probably very short sighted, if not actually stupid.
Plenty of financial firms here would do well to have more cash on hand, and certainly the US government is the optimum example of giving it all back to the people via spending all the spending it does.
My favorite description of Singapore came from William Gibson, who described it as “Disneyland with the Death Penalty” in an early issue of Wired magazine.
Frankly I don’t understand Wall Street’s fascination with Temsak and Singapore. The country is a cesspool of corruption with a government stuck in an eternal state of hubris.
Temasek just realized the worst possible loss on a single trade of $4.6b on a $5.9b investment. In the meantime, its outgoing CEO Ho Ching responsible for this trade (who is also wife of Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong) recently received one of the country’s top awards, a Medal of Commendation (Gold) Award at a recent May Day event. This company has zero transparency and accountability.
Given Singapore’s corrupted feudal system masquerading as a capitalist society and wide income disparity, it’s just a matter of time before the country unravels politically.