SWF Radar GIC

Reuters writes that, “Singapore, along with Norway and Abu Dhabi, has been asked by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help set disclosure benchmarks for sovereign wealth funds, a local newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. ‘We’ve put up certain ideas. They’re considering it. They are using us and Abu Dhabi and the Norwegians as benchmarks, to get us to set benchmarks for the rest,’ the Straits Times quoted Lee, who is also chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), as saying in Riyadh.”

Reuters writes that, “The head of Singapore’s Government Investment Corporation (GIC), which has agreed to make a massive capital injection in UBS, is against the idea of the Swiss bank spinning off its investment bank unit, a Swiss media report said.”

Forbes reports that, “Russian real estate developer PIK Group said it has entered into a partnership with GIC Real Estate, the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, to develop a large urban township in the Russian city of Mytischi.”

Channel NewsAsia reports that, “It is not the government’s role to comment on or second-guess whether it was timely for the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and Temasek Holdings to make their recent investments, [Singapore] Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said. Responding to a question in Parliament on how GIC and Temasek Holdings had injected funds into distressed banks like UBS and Merrill Lynch, the minister said, ‘They make these decisions for commercial reasons based on calculations free of any influence from the government.’”

Channel NewsAsia reports that, “One [Singapore] MP was concerned if the GIC's and Temasek Holding's billion-dollar investments in distressed banks were made at a bad time, as the effect of the sub-prime crisis has not been measured yet.”

Reuters reports that, “The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) said on Wednesday it has committed $300 million to a U.S. hedge fund for investing in real estate securities, as it sees opportunities amid a U.S. housing slump. GIC’s real estate investment arm will also acquire a minority stake in the fund, California-based Rosen Real Estate Securities.”

Reuters reports that, “Singapore’s biggest sovereign wealth fund[, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC),] said on Wednesday its large investments in banks Citigroup Inc and UBS AG are unique at a time of financial turmoil and did not represent a strategy shift.”

The Financial Times writes that, “Singapore's capital and competence cannot quite compensate for the scale and promise of Chinese economic growth.” It suggests later in the article that, “[N]othing shows the competitive pressure [from China and its emerging sovereign investors, the CIC and CDB] more than the way both GIC in Singapore and KIA [in Kuwait] have transformed themselves - literally in a matter of weeks.”

It should also be noted that Korea has also been feeling the pressure and, as a result of this, was driven to introduce its sovereign wealth fund, the Korea Investment Corp., to the world today by taking part in this latest sovereign cash injection into US financial institutions. This came less than a week after Korea’s Chosun Ilbo warned that Korea might get left behind in the rush to invest state funds in US banks. In this connection, The Times writes that, “Yesterday's $2 billion investment in Merrill Lynch represents the first serious, aggressive punt that KIC has made since it was formed in the summer of 2005.”

AFP reports that, “The Singapore sovereign wealth fund that stepped forward Tuesday to inject billions into troubled US financial institution Citigroup said the bank is an ‘excellent’ addition to its portfolio. The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) said it will make an investment of 6.88 billion dollars in the banking colossus by agreeing to participate in Citigroup’s private offering of convertible preferred securities.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that, “Citigroup Inc. has asked the Government Investment Corp. of Singapore for a capital infusion of at least $5 billion and negotiations are continuing, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday.”