Singapore Democrats

What is very clear and worrying is that our national wealth is back in the hands of one, who either has been judged to be incompetent (the real reason for her previously envisaged removal, though politically unconceded), or who "for personal reasons" is unwilling to continue in the job (the official reason for the envisaged "transition of leadership") and therefore cannot be relied upon to be motivated and committed.

The hypocritical Lee Family always get away with anything and everything. Time will tell whether they can still get away with this one.
It's just possible that Father&Son had persuaded their woman with the "Midas" touch to return as boss since Temasek's share values have gone up by 13% since Oct08. Now that there is a possibility of a recoup of losses due to resurgence of global markets, she should be there to take credit for it and not angmoh Chip Goodyear.
Her reputation and credibility would no doubt be restored when that happens. So also the Lee family name and the PAP Govt. The next GE can then be held once the massive losses have been restored.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_392459.html

June 19, 2009
Temasek outdid benchmarks
[b]Long term, it did even better than Buffett[/b]
By Alvin Foo
SINGAPORE investment agency Temasek Holdings may have taken a hit recently on some of its high-profile banking investments, but over the longer term it has outperformed key global benchmarks.

Figures obtained by The Straits Times show that over a 10-year period to March this year, Temasek outgunned several closely-watched equity indexes.

[b]It also beat other notable long-term investors such as Berkshire Hathaway, a top US investment company headed by billionaire Warren Buffett.[/b]

Temasek's performance has come under scrutiny in recent months after it suffered significant losses earlier this year on investments in Western banks Barclays and Bank of America (BoA).

The state investment house delivered an annualised total shareholder return by market value of 5.4 per cent from March 1999 to March this year, assuming the value of its portfolio remained unchanged since November last year. That is the date of the last available update of the value of its investments.

This compares with a return of 4.5 per cent in the same period for the MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan index, 3.1 per cent for the MSCI Singapore index, and -3 per cent for the MSCI World index, according to figures obtained by The Straits Times.

MSCI indexes are key indicators commonly used by institutional investors to see how well they are doing relative to the market.

Temasek's main investments are in stocks, with the bulk of its assets in Singapore and Asia, so these indexes are regarded as a useful gauge of its performance.

[b]Temasek's returns were also better than that of long-term investors like Swedish investment firm Investor AB, which delivered 3.7 per cent, and Berkshire Hathaway, which yielded 0.7 per cent.[/b]

Last month, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told Parliament that Temasek has performed 'respectably' compared to relevant market indexes and reputable institutional investors.

"Over the long term, Temasek did well"?

Be that as it may, the PAP has always judged personnel crucially by the criterion of consistency of excellent performance.

And never had Ho Ching been so tested at such a "crisis". Had she been judged to have failed?

>>> Now that is a good investor who really knows how to buy banks! Learn, everyone, including Mdm Ho!


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYzyTHHjhsJQ#

Berkshire Profit on Goldman Sachs Passes $2 Billion (Update3)


By Erik Holm

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s option to buy shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., part of an agreement reached at the depths of the credit crisis, has earned a profit on paper of more than $2 billion, a return of about 44 percent.

Goldman Sachs today passed $162 in New York trading for the first time since rival Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September. Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. holds warrants to buy $5 billion of Goldman common stock for $115 a share any time in the next four years.

“It must feel good to be Warren Buffett,” said Gerald Martin, a finance professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington, who has studied the billionaire’s investing history. “That number just flies in the face of people who like to say he’s lost a step.”

The difference between the strike price and the share value translates into a $2.19 billion paper profit for Berkshire. The U.S. government got a 23 percent annualized return for its investment in the firm after an agreement yesterday by the bank to pay $1.1 billion to settle warrants remaining after Goldman returned a bailout from the Treasury.

Goldman Sachs turned to Buffett in September, agreeing to sell $5 billion in preferred shares paying 10 percent interest, after Lehman’s bankruptcy and the emergency takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. by Bank of America Corp. Amid the crisis, Goldman earned an explicit endorsement from Buffett, the so-called Oracle of Omaha who is celebrated for his investing savvy.

Berkshire Gains

Berkshire gained $1,500, or 1.6 percent, to $93,500 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading today. The company has slipped about 3.2 percent this year as Berkshire posted a first- quarter loss on declines in the value of holdings in ConocoPhillips and derivatives tied to corporate bonds.

The Goldman Sachs warrants, Buffett said, were tacked on to give him an incentive to sell some of Berkshire’s existing stock holdings to fund the deal at a time when he had an increasing number of investment opportunities as the economy froze and markets plummeted.

“I wouldn’t have done the deal without them throwing in the warrants,” Buffett said in a Bloomberg Television interview in March. “That was a time when I talked about an economic Pearl Harbor right at that point. So to part with the funds at that time, I not only wanted a good yield but I wanted a possible kicker.”

The 44 percent return is based on the gain if Buffett were to redeem the warrants and sell them at today’s price. Berkshire also gets $500 million in interest on the preferred shares annually.

Government Repaid

Goldman Sachs later took $10 billion from the U.S. as part of the government’s bailout of financial firms -- a deal that also required the bank to grant the Treasury warrants. The U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program charged 5 percent annually, and placed restrictions on compensation for some employees. Goldman repaid the $10 billion in June, and this week agreed to the Treasury’s request for $1.1 billion to settle the warrants.

Buffett’s deal requires the firm to pay Berkshire a 10 percent fee if it repays the preferred shares before 2013.

“It makes sense, in a way,” said Martin of the Goldman Sachs decision to repay the U.S. funds first. “Who would you rather have breathing down your neck at a shareholder meeting, the government or Warren Buffett? An investment from Buffett reflects well on your company, and taking that government money was always a negative.”

Goldman Sachs stock dipped below Buffett’s $115 strike price in October, and fell to $52 on Nov. 20. The shares today gained $4.99, or 3.1 percent, to $165.45.

‘Reasonable Chance’

The bank said July 14 that second-quarter profit reached $3.44 billion as revenue from trading and stock underwriting set records.

Buffett made an investment in General Electric Co. in October, agreeing to buy $3 billion in preferred shares paying 10 percent and taking warrants to buy $3 billion of common stock at a strike price of $22.25. GE dipped below that level the day after the deal was announced and never recovered. The shares gained 32 cents to $11.95 today.

“There’s a reasonable chance both kickers will work out, or one kicker works out,” Buffett said in March, when the Goldman Sachs warrants were also under water. “But there’s also a reasonable chance neither one does.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Holm in New York at eholm2@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 23, 2009 16:46 EDT

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5902513/Warren-Buffett-makes-4bn-profit-on-Goldman-Sachs-stake.html

Warren Buffett makes $4bn profit on Goldman Sachs stake
Billionaire investor Warren Buffet has done it again – booking a $4.1bn (£2.5bn) paper profit on the $5bn he invested in Goldman Sachs at the height of the financial crisis.


By James Quinn
Published: 7:49PM BST 24 Jul 2009

Mr Buffett, known as the "Sage of Omaha" for his money-making ability, has made the return in one of the bleakest periods for investing in decades, benefiting from the recent uptick in Goldman's share price.

If that weren't enough, the 78-year-old is to star in a cartoon series – The Secret Millionaires' Club – to be shown on AOL's website, the aim of which is to teach children the basics about the value of money and investing.

Back in real world, a senior Goldman source said there had been no discussions with Mr Buffett or his Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle about redeeming the stake. That said, University of Louisiana assistant professor of finance Linus Wilson has calculated that the annualised return on the investment, were Berkshire to sell now, would be equivalent to 111pc based on a $9.1bn value for its preference shares, warrants and reinvested dividends.

That compares to the 23pc annualised return the US government received for its $10bn capital injection in the bank last October, which was repaid in June, with the bank buying back associated warrants earlier this week for $1.1bn.

At the time the Berkshire investment was announced last October, Mr Buffett was deemed to have been given highly favourable terms, since his $5bn preference shares had a 10pc annual coupon. He also received warrants to buy $5bn of ordinary shares at any point over the next five years at a strike price of $115 – $50 below Goldman's current price.

Portfolio down $40b

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_409681.html

SINGAPORE state investor Temasek said its portfolio slid by at least $40 billion, or more than a fifth, in the year to March