Ho Ching Leaves Temasek
Why she’s decided to step down, its probably anybody’s guess. With the recent losses incurred by Temasek during her reign, and the economy looking bad as ever, it would be a wise decision for her to leave. Should the investments suffer further losses, someone else can then take the blame.
In addition whatever happens to her, will also directly affect the image of her husband PM Lee. Bearing in mind that the next General Election isn’t too far away, the Lee’s would probably not want any unnecessary speculations.
Another possibility is that the Lee family may have other plans for her such as joining the parliment and possibly becoming the future Minister (of Finance?)
Here’s all the information that we’ve gathered so far
Probably the biggest news of 2009 so far. Ms Ho Ching, 55, wife of Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will leave Temasek. Former BHP Billiton CEO Charles ‘Chip’ Goodyear, 51, will take over later in the year on Oct 1. Ms Ho Ching joined Temasek as a director in January 2002 and has been CEO since January 2004. Surprisingly she will also resign from the board of directors.
Temasek Chairman S. Dhanabalan said Ho Ching’s decision to step down was not linked to performance and it was too early to determine if investments made in the last two years will lose out in the long-term. (something that I’m sure will cause a lot of speculation over the next few days)
Ms Ho Ching, who holds a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University, led the drive to increase Temasek’s holdings outside Singapore. Under her watch, Temasek bought stakes in Chinese lenders China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of China Ltd., and became the largest shareholder in Merrill Lynch before its takeover by Bank of America Corp.
In October 2004, she ended 30 years of financial secrecy at the company by publishing Temasek’s first-ever annual review. After graduating in 1976, Ms Ho joined Singapore’s Ministry of Defence, where she was assigned to the Defence Science Organisation, which adapted and developed weapons systems for Singapore’s fledgling military.
Ms Ho joined a Temasek unit, Singapore Technologies Pte, an unlisted holding company for Temasek’s engineering, technology, military and property companies, in 1987. Her first job was deputy director of engineering. She rose to president and CEO before “retiring” in 2001 at the age of 48, according to her official resume. The following year, Mr Dhanabalan appointed her as executive director.
Being the wife of current Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong, and daughter in law of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Ho Ching was ranked the 8th most powerful woman in the word by Forbes last year
“ Ho Ching has been credited with converting Temasek from a Singapore-focused firm to a leading investor in Asia. She earned accolades by making investments in Indian and Chinese telecoms and banks, and as a result, brought the portfolio to roughly $100 billion.”
Quote from Forbes August 2008 issue
Not everything had been smooth sailing for Ho Ching. Temasek, which had assets worth $123-billion (U.S.) as of March 2008, is nursing losses from its high profile investments in Merrill Lynch and Barclays as it aggressively expanded outside its core Asian market. Temasek’s $5-billion plus investment in Merrill alone has resulted in a loss of more than $2-billion. More details on the losses can be read here
February 7th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Ho Ching leaving temasek has definitely rocked Singapore with the news. LKY may be the one behind the scenes telling Ho Ching to step down from Temasek, so as to safeguard his son’s name.
There may be lots of hidden agendas in Temasek and if ever it gets dug out, may cause something like that happened to NKF’s TT Durai. I’m sure the Lee’s wouldn’t want their daughter in law still inside at that point in time. So rather get a scapegoat in now.
When MM passes on, we may even see her back in Temasek. Who knows?
Like what the write wrote, maybe they’re trying to get her into politics? Starting off now, and then warming up to the people by the next general election, so as to win more seats? Or we may even see her as the next Finance Minister of Singapore?
March 5th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
[...] Why Ho Ching Quit [...]