Singapore's sovereign wealth fund manager, Temasek Holdings Pte, had just recently increased its exposure in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. With the shareholdings increase, Temasek adds ICBC to the asset base of the the fund, particularly state controlled lenders.
Temasek purchased 126 million shares at HK$4,602 each share or a total investment of HK$580 million or US$75 million. This purchase was confirmed through a statement made to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The purchase increased Temasek's holdings in the Hong Kong shares of ICBC from 7.92% to 8.07%, as confirmed by Stephen Forshaw, spokesman for the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund management firm.
In April 2012, Temasek purchased 3.55 billion ICBC shares from Goldman Sachs Group. It then followed that up with another 83.7 million shares a month later. Then in a May 21 regulatory filing, Temasek again purchased another 280 million shares pegged at HK$5,50 per share.
Overall, Temasek has amassed about US$17 billion in shareholdings in China's major financial institututions such as ICBC, China Construction Bank Corp and the Bank of China. This was confirmed through data compiled by Bloomberg.
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