Profits up at Singapore’s Temasek

Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek has seen its annual profits double after asset sales offset the impact of the turmoil in the credit markets.

Temasek, which is owned by the Singapore government, made a net profit of 18.2bn Singapore dollars ($12.8bn; £6.9bn) in the year to 31 March.

This is up from a profit of S$7.1bn a year ago, but was helped by the S$17bn sale of energy and Chinese investments.

Temasek has billion dollar investments in banks Merrill Lynch and Barclays.

Despite the high-profile problems in the global banking sector over the past year, Temasek said it remained committed to its investments in the industry.

“The financial service industry is one we believe in. It’s a proxy to the economic growth.” said Temasek’s senior managing director, Manish Kejriwal.

“We recently concentrated on US and UK primarily because we see value.”