Temasek CEO steps down

Ho (pictured), who is the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, joined Temasek as an executive director in 2002 and was named CEO in 2004. She started her career as an engineer and was the president and CEO of Singapore Technologies Group prior to joining Temasek.

Ho will be succeeded by Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, currently an executive director and CEO of Temasek International. Sandrasegara joined Temasek in 2010 and has held various leadership roles.

During Ho's tenure, the Temasek portfolio has grown more than threefold to S$306 billion ($230 billion) as of March 2020. She presided over an increasing focus on technology and overseas exposure at Temasek. As of September, China had overtaken Singapore for the first time as the largest geography represented in the portfolio with 29%. Asia as a whole accounts for two-thirds, with North America on 17%.

For the 12 months ended March 2020, Temasek’s net portfolio fell in value, while the one-year total shareholder return was -2.28%, the first time it has entered negative territory in four years. This is despite an increasing focus on private assets perceived as more resilient. Unlisted assets have grown from 23% of the portfolio in 2010 to 48% last year.

Meanwhile, Temasek has become a global leader in terms of sovereign support for technology and VC investment. It began investing directly in technology in a significant way around 2012. Before that, there were never more than 10 direct tech deals made by a sovereign wealth fund globally a year. Temasek acquired Vertex Ventures in 2004 and was the VC unit's sole LP until 2014, when it began encouraging third-party capital across a network of indepedent partnerhships.

In October, Temasek launched an asset management group called Seviora Holdings with combined assets under management of around S$75 billion to provide more support in areas such as third-party fundraising. This was created by combining four existing units, including private equity-focused Azalea Investment Management and venture debt business InnoVen Capital.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• LPs
• People
• Singapore
• Sovereign wealth fund
• Appointments