Breaking News: Temasek CEO Ho Ching to quit

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Friday, 06 February 2009

Kevin Lim & Saeed Azhar
Reuters

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said on Friday its chief executive Ho Ching will step down and be replaced by former BHP Billiton CEO Chip Goodyear on Oct. 1.

Ho Ching, wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, joined Temasek as a director in January 2002 and has been CEO since January 2004.

"The team has already embarked on a different stance since mid-2007, and has begun to review its long-term plans under different scenarios prompted by the economic downturn," Chairman S. Dhanabalan said at a media briefing.

"If we are to bring in new leadership, it would be just as good a time as any to involve a new leader in this review."

Goodyear, 51, stepped down as CEO of BHP Billiton in January 2007. He joined Temasek's board on Sunday.

Temasek, which had S$185 billion ($123.2 billion) in assets as at March 2008, has been hit hard due to its 40 percent exposure to banks that have slumped in value due to the global financial crisis.

The sovereign wealth fund's key investments include 28 percent of DBS Group, just under a fifth of Standard Chartered Bank and about 3.8 percent of Bank of America following BoA's takeover of Merrill Lynch.

Temasek's $5 billion plus investment in Merrill alone has resulted in a loss of more than $2 billion.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSSGC00100820090206

Temasek CEO Ho Ching to step down
Costas Paris & P.R. Venkat
Dow Jones Newswires

Singapore's state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. said Friday that Chief Executive Officer Ho Ching will step down in October and will be replaced by former BHP Billiton Ltd. CEO Charles Goodyear. "Ho Ching has been instrumental in bringing 'Chip' on board. We have been working on this appointment for more than a year," Temasek Chairman S. Dhanabalan said in a statement.

"The team has already embarked on a different stance since mid-2007, and has begun to review its long-term plans under various scenarios prompted by the economic downturn. The board is of the view that, if we are to bring in new leadership, it would be just as good a time as any to involve a new leader in this review," he added.

Ho, who is in her 50s, has been Temasek's CEO since 2004. She is the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Goodyear joined the Temasek board on Feb. 1. He assumes the position of CEO- designate on March 1 and will succeed Ho on Oct. 1. Goodyear, stepped down from BHP at the end of 2007 after nine years with the Anglo-Australian miner, five of them as CEO. The 51-year old Texan left BHP at the height of a mining boom led by China's growing appetite for resource materials.

He will now run one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds at a time when Singapore has entered into a sharp recession and Temasek's stakes in distressed global investment banks have taken a beating.

"Temasek's portfolio is excellent, with strong and competitive companies," Goodyear said.

Under Ho's leadership, Temasek, which began operations in 1974 with controlling stakes in major domestic companies, expanded abroad with investments in real estate, financial institutions, telecoms and infrastructure.

In the past year or so, Temasek, which has a portfolio of around US$134 billion, also bought stakes in distressed western financial firms like Merrill Lynch, Barclays PLC and Standard Chartered PLC.

Temasek currently holds a 19% stake in Standard Chartered and slightly over 2% in Barclays.

The sovereign wealth fund also holds about 189 million Bank of America Corp. shares, or a 3.8% stake, after Merrill Lynch was bought by the U.S. bank and Temasek converted its 13.7% stake in Merrill Lynch into Bank of America shares.

Temasek suffered a paper loss of about US$2.3 billion from its investment in Merrill Lynch, reflecting the investment bank's declining fortunes, people familiar with the situation have told Dow Jones Newswires.

"We assessed that we are, comparatively, in a good position to weather the downturn and come out stronger as the global economy recovers," Dhanabalan said.

"Our balance sheet remains strong, and we have every opportunity to strengthen our portfolio over the next couple of years."

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500...

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Comments (20)

Sat 07 Feb 2009 10:03 PM | Robox

I would be inconsolable if the 'ho had to step down because someone had doused lighter fluid on her and set her ablaze.

It would break my little heart to irretrievable pieces.

Sat 07 Feb 2009 2:28 PM | exSINgaPOORean - Good Leader.

The econonmic cisis has not began yet and HOLE JINX aready runs away. So much for all those talks and praises by LKY, Siisy Lee, Danabala about how good Hole Jinx is.

"Real gold should not fear red hot fire"..Chinese proverb. So now we know she is just cheap iron who depends on her husband and father-in-law to get the post. Anyone can sial a boat in calm water but only a good sailer can sail through the storm. Even before the storm comes she had already demaged the ship with holes and now she jumps ship!

She is just like her husband...resigned in time from the Minister of Finance post before the economical storm sets in.

If or when LKY resigns as Chairman of GIC and sissy LOONG resigns as PM ..both citing health reasons, then we know SINKgaPOORe is finished. The CPF counter would suddenly close its doors and DBS goes into liquidation. The LEE family disappears and now news about them and One Can't Sing and Wooden. Singapore is gone for sure.

Wise move for them but terrible for Singapore especially Mdm Hole is instrumental in losing at least $20 billion (from my own computation) since she took the post of CEO of Temasek in Jan 2004...New Zealand Airland, Virgin ariline, Shin Group, ABC Learning, now in the banks.

Once you are a loser, you are always a loser. I pointed out many times before, she had bankrupted Micodisc and never shown any success in business expect managed some established govt-linked cos which can almost be managed by auto-pilot. She then carried the loser mentality to run TemaSICK Holding and turn the whole org into a "SICK" place. Now she resigns.

Singaporeans and SDP should hold her accountable to all the loses.

And why PAPee can allow a foreign white monkey run Temasick. He will then have access to all military and financial secrets of Singapore as many of the Singapore military research establishments and banks are under TemaSICK. This sensitive post MUST be held by a Singaporean.

SDP should rally to oppose the appointment of CHEAP Goodyear...who only can help to re-ignite wooden Goh Chok Tong's slogan of "more goodyears". Moreover he is not qualified to run TemaSICK which is much more diversified than his Australian mining company.

LEE Kuan Yew, Tony Tan or even Philip YEO (another loser of course) should be the CEO.

LKY runs the GIC so well ..only lost about $15 billion and he equates himself to billionaire Lee Kai Seng then he should be the CEO.

Tony Tan was a banker and since 40% of the porfolio is in banking, Tony Tan is the right person to be the CEO.

As for Philip Yeo, well he is also qualified to be the CEO bec. he has a big mouth to say that all under him is slaves. See how "successful" he ran the A star bio-research lap....after spending $5 billion for the past 10 years, not a single big discovery...the only one discovery I read was to use "urine to power the cell phone batteries". So Philip Yeo at least can make Tamasick to "yeo yeo"...i.e. "show show" for another 5 years.

Sat 07 Feb 2009 3:54 PM | exSINgaPOORean - All in the FamiLEE

I can vividly IMAGINE (please don't sue me for my imagination) sissy Loong standing with his two hands hanging 90% straight on his sides and both his legs squeezing as if to control his pee while looking sheepishly and sliently at his wife being scolded by his god-like father.

Each time LKY raises his voice to a higher decibel, he squeezes his legs more, so much so that I feel his pain IN BETWEEN.

Mdm Hole occasionally tries to explain for all the loses in Temasek and even tempted to remind LKY that he too has loses in his GIC and in ALL decisions he had a final say. But LKY shots her down whenever she opens her mouth "hole".

LKY's wife is laying on her sick bed at home with the nurse besides her.

LKY's daughter tries to get his father to lower down his voice so as not to awake the suffering mom. She reminded her dad not to treat his daughter-in-law like Dr Chee and his sister.

But LKY keeps scolding Hole Jinx and blaming her for all the loses.

LKY's wife wakes up and adds to the scolding for a few minutes. She cough a few times and the daughter persuaded to let LKY do the follow-up scolding.

Mdm Hole turn towards her Singapore PAPER GENERAL husband to defend her but sissy Loong just remines quite with his legs squeezing even tigher ant tighter...then I can hear a "pop" sound. WOW...sissy confirmed as "point-of-no-return".

MAD Hole has enough. She treatened to "Si"..(kill herself)..LKY care less but his wife jumps up and said: "We do not want another case (sissy Loong's wife also died...don't know what reason but according to rumours it was because...well too sensitive to speculate)"..She coughs again and lie back to bed.

Then MAD Hole picks up her cell phone, dial it and spoke: "Dana I am resigning as CEO of the damn TemaSICK". She hangs up.

Dana's wife immediately called back to LKY.

She says: "Mr Lee, I don't know what Mdm Ho has been saying to our diver. Mohan, our driver, was holding Dana's phone while Dana was in the payer meeting Mdm Ho resigns on her own without him sacking her. My driver was not too sure what he heard and dare not to tell Dana that his prayer is answered so quickly. What is happening Mr. Lee? Please tell me the G..O...O...D news yourself."

Singaporeans are encouraged to be creative so the rest is left to your onw IMAGINATION for this series: "All in the famiLEE".

You can imagine sissy Loong resigns as PM for health reason bec. he squeezes his legs so tightly that in between exploded.."pop".

LKY resigns from the MM post and as Chairman of GIC as he finally conceded that that he is not Hong Kong billionaire Lee Kai Seng...he was just dreaming.

Wooden Goh resigns as SM to be a professional golfer and Goh's wife flys to Dubai to join Durrai as his LEEgirl aid.

One Can't Sing resigns as deputy PM to purse his main hobby...singing...join the Bee Gees.

Sat 07 Feb 2009 4:22 PM | exSINgaPOORean - Curses begins to answer!

In the previous SDP article "another trial commences", I placed curses on the LEE FamiLEE.

Now it is coming into fruitation.

You will see HOLE JINX die suddenly...either jump into the MRT track onto a speeding moving train; or die in her office with an overdose of rat poison; or jump down from her office wearing all red or just naked.

The ST would report her death as "unnatural death" and there would be a news blockage of her suicide.

Ho Jinx is a very smart lady...different from many women who commit suicides. She wants those who are accountable for her "final decision" pay for it.

She would email the list of all the covered-ups in the TemasSICK and GIC dealings to her lawyer, to the oppositions in Singapore and all the world leaders and press and TV stations like CNN, BBC and Fox.

She would detail with evidence all the hidden events and decisions making process and how the investments were made and losted and WASTED. Also listing any money that is not accountated for.

Well after this happens, LKY would pull in the paper army and arrest all the opposition. But too bad he dies the next year after seeing his daughter-in-law fallen from grace then committed suicide; his sissy Loong resigns from PM post and become a monk before his death from cancer; his wife dies a painful death and his two favourite grandchild die from car accidents in the USA.

Go to hell FamiLEE.
................................
Curse in previous SDP articles .

"Yea let him suffer bec. he has made too many people suffer from his services as a tractor for the Japanese Imperial army till to day. Who knows how many he had killed just by using the "drug smuggling" charges to the oppositions.

We must revenge for Mr Jayarathnam, Lim Chin Siong, Dr Lee Siew Chou etc.

"Spend more time to pray and curse hims death by a painful death. Oh no curse that his wife, daughter and cancer son (two or three of his grandchildren die from car accident) die before him so that he suffers seeing his love ones gone then may the chief devil take him along by this year of 2009.

To this type of evil people you can only curse them die a painful death.

Damn it, the more I read how this ex Japanese spy imprison his fellow law- abiding citizens the more I want to curse his whole family die by million bees stings. Evil and corrupted LEE family go to hell!"

Sat 07 Feb 2009 4:35 PM | Dick - Gross Incompetency

I can accept investment losses, especially in today's cirsis.

What I can't accept is her appointment, which is clearly Nepotism.
Her track record confirms that.

The worst of all,is her attempt to escape accountability and responsibility, at a time when the investment is face with most challenge.

I suggest Ho join PAP, she got all the necessary trait.

Sat 07 Feb 2009 5:24 PM | greyheyn

An ambitious woman who quits. Perhaps she is joining the cabinet.

Sat 07 Feb 2009 6:15 PM | tan

What? Running away after hoarding so much money? Is she doing her laundary?

Sat 07 Feb 2009 7:21 PM | maxchew - Gung-Ho Jinx's threshold is $26,000,000,000

AS above.....Mrs Lee Hsien Loong's threshold of loss (not even her money but ours) is $26 billion. That's the lot she lost via her many varied "bad" investments. It's 26 with 9 zeroes! Just imagine what this amount can do for S'pore esp the poor and needy.
Can we not place GHJ together with the other big-time "investors".....Maldoff, Japanese guy, etc etc?

Sat 07 Feb 2009 10:16 PM | black-scholes

Well done, Ho Ching. Well done.

Creating a messy trail of value destruction and then passing it on to another bloke to clear the mess.

That's pretty much your style of leadership, huh? Self-preservation.

If you were smart, you'd have left on a high! Not when everything's on the brink of collapse!

*Expletive* As if that's not enough, you had the *Expletive* mind to spout a *Expletive* nonsense like: "Na de qi fang de xia" (Chinese phrase). *Expletive* *Expletive*

WILL YOU PLEASE PUT YOURSELF INTO SELF-EXILE?

Sat 07 Feb 2009 10:20 PM | Dick - It's in the blood

Wonder why they Choose to run road when the country is in trouble?

It's in the family, check out what Dirty Harry did in WW2 and you'll understand.

Sun 08 Feb 2009 12:03 AM | stevewu77 - Where is the Accountibility?

Regardless of the reason for stepping down, Ho Ching as the CEO needs to be accountable for the recent losses at Temasek.

Dhana as the chairman of Temasek is also culpable for the lack of oversight. If he still insists no one knows if the investments are really losses, I offer three words "mark to market".

Sun 08 Feb 2009 7:13 AM | tewniaseng

Everything already pre arranged.She will be the next Finance Minister taking over the Botak Head.

Sun 08 Feb 2009 7:27 AM | jbeji

hmmn...interesting, so many 'ex-singaporeans' commenting asking doing this & that, wonder why they do not come back 'home' & challenge the regime then just commenting & inciting...with knowledge & guts that they have, would have form a good team of alternate to forward change in this island state.

Mon 09 Feb 2009 11:36 AM | F C D Chan

Ho Ching's resignation as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Temasek signifies that coporate accountability is beginning to take roots in Temasek.

Although her departure was long overdue, it should be welcomed.

Mon 09 Feb 2009 8:45 AM | Seelan Palay

Wow exSINgaPOORean, I think all of your 3 posts could be put together and structured into an opinion piece.

Hope you and the SDP website will look into that.

Mon 09 Feb 2009 12:04 PM | F C D Chan - To: exSINgaPOORean

Get a grip of yourself will you? Your furious tirade has a tinge of childishness all over it; it only reflects the bitterness you harbour within.

My advice for you is this - rid yourself of those bitterness and start looking at the world with a new light!

Mon 09 Feb 2009 10:48 PM | AnnA

What is there to say? I'm almost speechless!

Ho Jinx has definitely made the world TASTELESS to all of us, can't even tell which is bitter or which is sour. Trying to make the best of it with sweetener and mix with creamer.

Still, it is hard to swallow.

Tue 10 Feb 2009 2:12 AM | jbeji

front page article in 'The Nation' of BK today stating that GIC & Tamasek have make HUGE LOSS! u guys may like to google in and read it for yourselves.happy reading...

Tue 10 Feb 2009 2:46 AM | Henry Windgates

Ho Ching's a coward, stepping down during the economical meltdown. Nothing more I can say to this.

Thu 12 Feb 2009 1:59 PM | exSINgaPOORean - Curses begin to answer!

Just read from an official rumour that old fox cum pimp's daughter's rectum raptured. Whe wrote last week that she is suffering from a "surgical error" and today I read about the rectum rapture.

Most "official rumours" come to past.

She should be in a critical situation.

I did not curse and MM (Mad Man) Lee's second son yet. Yet she is going to die by the "rapture".

Wow. I must just wounder when happens when my curse come full force. Stay tune to see the FINAL END OF THE corrupted FamiLEE.