Singapore - The Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) sovereign wealth fund said Tuesday its portfolio lost more than 20 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 31 due to the global financial crisis, but it had recovered more than half of the losses as markets rebounded. "Like many large institutional investors, GIC's portfolio had been impacted in the severe global downturn of 2008," deputy chairman and executive director Tony Tan said in a statement accompanying GIC's annual report released Tuesday.
"In recent months, we had recovered a good part of our losses as the markets performed better," he added.
GIC, the larger of the two Singapore government-owned investment companies, with Temasek Holdings being the other, did not quantify the amount of the losses or the value of its portfolio.
According to the company's website, GIC manages "well above 100 billion US dollars" and ranks among the world's largest fund management companies.
"GIC has weathered the financial crisis relatively well with only modest losses," the group's chief investment officer Ng Kok Song said.
"By end August 2009, global stock markets have recovered 48 per cent from the lows of 2009 even though there are still down 35 per cent from their peak in October 2007," he said.
In its annual report GIC said it would maintain its investments in banking giants UBS and Citigroup, although the fund cut its stake in the US bank to less than 5 per cent recently, realizing a profit of 1.6 billion US dollars.
"We maintain our confidence in their long-term prospects," the report said.
"The value of GIC's investments in Citigroup and UBS have recovered significantly," Ng said.
"While the UBS investment is still showing a loss, the investment in Citigroup has made a profit, part of which has been realized," he added.
Singapore's second state-owned investor Temasek had earlier reported that the net value of its portfolio climbed 32 per cent to 172 billion Singapore dollars (122 billion US dollars) from April to July, recouping many of its losses suffered during the global downturn.
By end of March 2009, Temasek's portfolio value reached 130 billion Singapore dollars, down from the peak of 185 billion Singapore dollars a year ago.
