10/07/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | JULY 10, 2025

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Temasek’s portfolio value hits record high

Indonesia signs energy and grain deals with America JAKARTA: Indonesia’s state oil company and agricultural firms have signed deals to increase their purchases of US goods, the country’s chief economic minister told AFP yesterday, as Jakarta lays the groundwork to avoid the worst of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has pledged to step up agriculture, energy and merchandise imports to close the trade gap with Washington and earlier this week struck a US$1.25 billion deal to buy more US wheat. Trump has threatened Jakarta with a 32% tariff on top of a base 10% if it does not strike a new trade agreement by Aug 1. Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto, who has travelled to Washington for trade talks, said yesterday that state oil firm Pertamina signed a memorandum of understanding pledging more US energy purchases, without providing more details. Agriculture firms Sorini Agro Asia Corporindo, a member of Indonesia’s Corn Mill Association, and FKS Group also signed memorandums of understanding to up their purchases. Airlangga did not disclose the value of the deals signed in Washington but last week he told reporters that Indonesian businesses would make a total spending commitment worth US$34 billion. The Indonesian embassy in Washington said the agreements were struck at meetings in the American capital on Tuesday. “The meetings resulted in several commercial deals, as reflected in the signing of various memorandums of understanding, paving the way for new cooperation opportunities and deepening bilateral economic ties,” it said. US food corporation Cargill in a statement confirmed the slate of deals included an MoU for corn purchases. – AFP

Lim said Temasek continues to believe in the longer-term prospects of China. China is Temasek’s third largest market in terms of underlying exposure at 18% as at end-March, after Singapore at 27% and the Americas at 24%. “We see opportunities in the green economy and life sciences innovation, and also in leading domestic brands which continue to scale and grow in a resilient manner,” she added. Moving forward, Temasek said it was increasing focus on investing in companies with stable cash flows and earnings, as well as access to large domestic markets that are better shielded from tariffs and geopolitical risks. It is also focusing on infrastructure and artificial intelligence. “We do not only make investments ourselves, we also invest in AI-related funds,” Chia Song Hwee, Temasek’s deputy CEO, said. Temasek’s investments in the AI sector include firms such as Nvidia, Databricks and Veeam. It recently joined a consortium backed by Microsoft , BlackRock and tech investment company MGX to invest and expand AI infrastructure, according to BlackRock’s investor day presentation slides in June. – Reuters

Day” on April 2, while some earlier risks such as fiscal tightening that would slow US growth had eased with the passage of his sweeping tax-cut and spending bill. “Generally speaking, the slowdown in growth that we’re seeing right now because of tariff uncertainty, we should see a recovery in growth towards the end of the year, particularly as the Fed cuts rates and more deregulation happens, and there’s more clarity around tariffs,” Sipahimalani said. “The challenge in the US is valuations.” Nevertheless, Lim said Temasek saw “bright spots, such as the US’s world-class capabilities in AI, which will have a transformative impact across all sectors”. The US continues to be the largest destination for Temasek’s capital, the company said. The Americas made up 24% of its portfolio at the end of its financial year on March 31, versus 22% on the same date a year ago. The rise in Temasek’s net portfolio value was the second consecutive annual increase, and largely driven by the strong performance of its listed Singapore-based companies and direct investments in China, India and the United States. banking firms to reduce the time taken for clients to open accounts. “We want to work closely with the industry to see how we can go further, uphold high standards, so that we remain a trusted financial centre, and at the same time make sure that our processes are efficient.” Singapore has tightened scrutiny of the financial sector following 2023’s money laundering scandal, the largest ever in the city-state, with lenders spending more time on due diligence checks and even closing the accounts of some clients. Last Friday, MAS said it imposed penalties in relation to the case on nine financial institutions, including Citibank, Julius Baer and UBS, totalling S$27.45 million. bankruptcy-protected restructuring of debt worth 400 billion baht (RM47 billion) in 2021, reducing its workforce by half and trimming its fleet. Eamsiri said the airline is operating with around 75% of the seat capacity it had before the pandemic, but its revenue has surpassed pre-Covid levels. “Our efficiency is better than in the past,” he told the panel. Eamsiri said the airline has no plans to resume direct flights to the United States, despite the US upgrading Thailand’s air safety rating this year to permit direct flights. Eamsiri said the airline’s current fleet could not operate such long-distance flights efficiently, and also noted that the US market was a “big risk” in the current context of tariff negotiations. Thai Airways stopped flying to the United States in 2015, the same year as the US Federal Aviation Administration downgraded Thailand’s air safety rating to “Category 2”, preventing Thai airlines from launching or expanding services to the United States. – Reuters

o Sovereign wealth fund says US tariff and fiscal tightening risks likely peaked Singapore’s state investor Temasek reported yesterday an 11.6% year-on-year jump in its net portfolio value to a record S$434 billion (RM1.4 trillion), and said risks around US immigration, tariff and fiscal tightening policies had likely peaked. US President Donald Trump opened a new phase on Monday in his trade war, telling partners from powerhouse suppliers such as Japan and South Korea to smaller players including Malaysia that they face higher tariffs from Aug 1. “We still have to be watchful of the tariff developments over the next few weeks and months,” Lim Ming Pey, Temasek’s joint head of corporate strategy, told Reuters in a briefing. Temasek’s chief investment officer Rohit Sipahimalani said tariffs were not expected to return to the levels seen on Trump’s “Liberation SINGAPORE: Singapore is shortening the time it takes for wealthy clients to open private bank accounts and get tax incentives for their family offices, a minister said yesterday. The moves are designed to keep Singapore attractive as a hub for the finances of the wealthy even as it tightens regulations following a S$3 billion (RM9.9 billion) money laundering scandal in 2023. National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat, who is also the deputy chairman of the country’s central bank, said it used to take as long as a year for family offices to get tax incentives, but that the Monetary Authority of Singapore had worked with financial institutions to bring it down to within three months for most applications. Chee said MAS was also working with private SINGAPORE: Thai Airways International could exercise an existing option to buy more planes from US planemaker Boeing as part of Thailand’s tariff negotiations with the United States, CEO Chai Eamsiri told a Reuters NEXT Asia summit yesterday. The flag carrier in February last year said it had ordered 45 Boeing 787-9 wide-body jets with options for a further 35. Thailand has submitted a new trade proposal to the United States in a bid to avoid steep tariff hikes on its own products. Thai Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said on Sunday the country could purchase more Boeing aircraft as part of its trade talks with Washington, in an interview with Bloomberg News. Eamsiri confirmed the finance minister was referring to Thai Airways’ option to buy 35 more 787s. In June, Thai Airways exited its debt restructuring programme and said it expects to resume trading its shares on the stock market by early August. Thailand’s national airline began a SINGAPORE:

Singapore to cut time to set up bank accounts for family offices, ultra-wealthy

Chee said in January that the number of family offices, one-stop firms that manage the money of the very wealthy, grew to 2,000 last year, up from the 1,650 figure Chee shared last September. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said last July that six single family offices had their tax incentives revoked because of links to the money laundering case. Chee said MAS will provide greater clarity to the wealth industry on its expectations of banks and relationship managers, and on checks the industry needs to perform.

“So that (the expectations) are clearer and that we can avoid second-guessing and taking longer than necessary to help clients to open accounts.” – Reuters Thai Airways could firm up Boeing order as part of tariff talks: CEO

Reuters Asia commodities and energy editor Tony Monroe moderating a panel discussion with Eamsiri (centre) and AirAsia Aviation Group deputy CEO (corporate) Farouk Kamal at the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore yesterday. – REUTERSPIC