Temasek, the Singapore state-owned investment company, has reported a Net Portfolio Value (NPV) of SGD 389 billion for the financial year ended 31 March 2024, up SGD 7 billion from a year ago.
Releasing the figures today, a Temasek media release said: “Marking our unlisted portfolio to market would provide SGD 31 billion of value uplift and bring our Mark to Market (MTM) NPV to SGD 420 billion, up SGD 9 billion from last year’s MTM NPV. The increase was mainly due to our investment returns from the US and India, offset by the underperformance of China’s capital markets.”
One of the Indian companies that benefited from Temasek’s sustainability-oriented investments was the electric vehicle manufacturer Mahindra Electric Automobile.
Temasek added: “Our unlisted portfolio has grown steadily from 20% in 2004 to 52% as at 31 March 2024. With this increase in exposure, reporting our unlisted assets at mark to market value would be more in line with our peers. Hence, we have aligned our approach this year to market practice, and have presented the MTM NPV for FY22 and FY23 on a similar basis for consistency.”
Giving more details, Temasek said: “Our 20-year and 10-year Total Shareholder Return (TSR) remained stable at 7% and 6%, respectively. Metrics such as our NPV and longer-term 20-year and 10-year TSRs are more indicative of our performance, and are aligned with Temasek’s mandate to generate sustainable returns over the long term.
“Longer-term TSRs are dependent on the starting year and ending year. Our 20-year TSR this year excludes our post-SARS recovery of 2004, which explains the drop in our 20-year TSR from 9% last year to 7% this year. One-year TSR was 1.60%.”
Resilient and forward-looking portfolio
Amidst global economic uncertainties, Temasek, which is now celebrating 50 years, guided by its core principle of generating sustainable returns, “maintained a cautious but steady investment pace”.
We invested SGD 26 billion into opportunities in sectors such as technology, financial services, sustainability, consumer, and healthcare, aligned with the four structural trends of Digitisation, Sustainable Living, Future of Consumption, and Longer Lifespans. Excluding Singapore, the US continued to be the leading destination for our capital, followed by India and Europe. We also stepped up our investment activities in Japan.
Temasek
The Singapore state-owned entity also “divested SGD 33 billion for the year”. It said: “Of this, about SGD 10 billion was due to the redemption of capital by Singapore Airlines and Pavilion Energy for their mandatory convertible bonds and preferential shares respectively. Overall, we had a net divestment of SGD 7 billion, compared to a net investment of SGD 4 billion a year ago.”
Temasek said that it was “committed to embedding sustainability” at the core of all its business decisions and operations.
“This year, we launched our inaugural Sustainability Report,” said the release. “It brings together our disclosures and tracks our progress, taking into consideration the disclosure requirements issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board. By sharing our sustainability goals, practices and performance, we aim to foster trust and engage in meaningful dialogue on the topic with our stakeholders.”
During the financial year 2023-24, Temasek “deployed SGD 3 billion into investments aligned with the Sustainable Living trend. This comprises sustainability-focused investments and climate transition investments, covering key focus areas such as food, water, waste, energy, materials, clean transportation, and the built environment.”
In clean transportation, besides Mahindra in India, investments by Temasek went to BYD in China; sustainable battery solutions provider Ascend Elements in the US; and electrolyser manufacturer Electric Hydrogen in the US. “In May 2024, we partnered Brookfield to invest in Neoen, a France-based global renewable energy company,” said the release.
It added: “We are advancing sustainability through partnerships with like-minded partners such as Breakthrough Energy, BlackRock, and Brookfield, to invest in the energy transition and scale next-generation climate solutions.”
