Risk-taker Ho Ching has no regrets

[Sleepyman]

http://in.reuters.com/article/innovationNe...0090206?sp=true

Risk-taker Ho Ching has no regrets

Fri Feb 6, 2009 5:36pm IS

 

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Ho Ching, wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will step down as chief executive of Temasek, ending a 5-year term which saw the state investment agency expand aggressively beyond Singapore.

 

It was also involved in controversies around the region.

 

Ho, 55, joined Temasek as a director in January 2002 and became CEO two years later. She will be replaced by Chip Goodyear, former chief of global miner BHP Billiton, in October.

 

One of Ho's colleagues once said it was her willingness to take risks, not her family ties, that won her the top job at Temasek, with a mandate to shake up Singapore's state investor, which had assets under management of S$185 billion ($123 billion) at end-March 2008.

 

That penchant for risk-taking came to the fore in 2007 with Temasek's surprise 2.1 billion pound ($3.1 billion) investment in British bank Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), which was locked in a costly bidding war for Dutch rival ABN AMRO in what would be the world's biggest bank takeover.

 

Barclays' share price has sunk to a little over 1 pound from more than 7 pounds when Temasek bought its shares 18 months ago.

 

The investment was one of many big deals engineered by Ho, who keeps a low profile despite her prominence in financial circles and as a member by marriage of Singapore's first family.

 

Since taking the helm at Temasek, Ho has stepped up the fund's diversification beyond its small home market. Her goal: a portfolio split with about a third invested in Singapore, a third elsewhere in Asia, and the rest in developed economies.

 

But while Temasek is regarded as the Asian standard-bearer among increasingly prominent sovereign funds, its large size and government links have provoked opposition to its investments in nearby Thailand and Indonesia.

 

In 2006, a Temasek-led $3.8 billion investment in Thai telecoms firm Shin Corp SHIN.BK, then owned by the family of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, triggered a prolonged political crisis in Bangkok that led to Thaksin's ouster in a bloodless coup.

 

Shin has since lost about two-thirds of its market value.

 

Temasek's investment in Indonesia's PT Indosat (ISAT.JK: Quote, Profile, Research) has also come under attack, in part because Temasek-linked companies are big investors in the country's telecoms sector. Temasek says it is not involved in any anti-competitive business practices.

Temasek is nursing losses from high profile investments in Merrill Lynch and Barclays as it looked to expand outside Asia, but came up against a global financial crisis.

 

"These are turbulent times and I'm sure she must have had a stressful time this year," said David Cohen, economist at Action Economics.

 

Temasek's $5 billion plus investment in Merrill alone has resulted in a loss of more than $2 billion.

 

Temasek Chairman S. Dhanabalan said Ho'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 would lose out in the long-term.

 

Ho tends to avoid the media and has made few comments on Shin. When she addressed a Morgan Stanley conference in November 2006, with the Shin deal in the limelight, the bank told the media not to ask questions.

 

Ho began her career at Singapore's Ministry of Defense, where she met her husband, the eldest son of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

 

While Lee took up a variety of cabinet positions, Ho moved to state-owned Singapore Technologies in 1987, running a mix of defense, technology, property and stockbroking firms which she restructured, divesting some units and listing others.

 

When Dhanabalan, a former cabinet minister, asked Ho to head Temasek, he told local media she was "the best person for the job," and the appointment had "nothing to do" with her being Lee's wife.

 

Asked on Friday if she had any regrets as her departure was announced, Ho replied: "No. I think if you want to run life with regret, you will end up doing very little."

[Damienic]

best person for the job?? "puke"

[Hamburger]

she dares.....cos its not her $$ she is losing. Typical of them, screw up but still tinks nothing is wrong

[Kb27]

Sure, I can take other people's money and do all kind of risky thing.

As long as it's not mine, why not?

[Imaginary]

all other things aside, i agree with what she said - "I think if you want to run life with regret, you will end up doing very little."

[Watwheels]

I dun see what's so great about walking the yellow brick road. Other CEO might have done a better job IF given all these chances. I dun see why she deserve all the media attention compared to other CEOs of other big organizations.

 

If really that great, ppl can see for themselves, no need big publicity.

[Yeshe]

got a feeling the old man is screwing his son and daughter-in-law leow...

[Damienic]

why you think so leh?

[Ixiz]

IF Bill Gate were to give me 10 Billion to invest ... i would show hand all on Roulette ...It's either Red ...Black or Green ....IF i win ...i would gain 10 Billion ....IF i lose ... I am a risk taker also ...No regrets....Immediate results ...No need to see long term ...

 

Sigh ...so many IF ....

[Darth_mel]

all other things aside, i agree with what she said - "I think if you want to run life with regret, you will end up doing very little."

 

Well, she certainly didn't do very little. That was a big damage done with no regrets.

[Ender]

all other things aside, i agree with what she said - "I think if you want to run life with regret, you will end up doing very little."

 

Well, she certainly didn't do very little. That was a big damage done with no regrets.

 

This is an open statement that shows that Ho Ching, like the people on the top gahment have no accountability. If she ever has a sense of accountability she wouldn't have said that, rather like Obama would have said it, 'there no excuse for it'.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Ender

[Orionz]

she dares.....cos its not her $$ she is losing. Typical of them, screw up but still tinks nothing is wrong

 

i also dare to take the risk if it is not my $$ and I don't have to answer for it

 

[Nolicense]

seems like the job they do is like a lab experiment. success or failure, their job is to have conducted the experiment.

 

i think this is a very dangerous way to govern.

[Babyt]

she doesnt look like a CEO...more like granny kinda of hawker woman who will sell fruits/veg

[Kb27]

Let's read this headline in 2002 and think what those people who support her says now.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...25/b3788068.htm

[Yr1985]

Let's read this headline in 2002 and think what those people who support her says now.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/conte...25/b3788068.htm

 

Notice SM Goh tend to give statements which he do not have to account to. Words like "for the sake of larger pond", "more good years" and not forgetting the infamous currency conversion of 600k to a peanut. Those analysts are right though, but they reacted 6 years late and billions of dollars. It could have being shorter, look how Thatsin tio pok for just one misjudgement which lead to one misdeed to the other. I wonder how other countries leaders look upon this.

[Friendstar]

WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!

[Ixiz]

WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!

 

Problem is back where ?

 

Back to you ? Well ...maybe you got to wait till you reach 60 ...maybe 70 ...maybe 80 ... Well average lifespan of Singaporean are getting higher ...I expect maybe 90 ...

 

Back to Ci Pee F Board ? Well ...Don't forget it's a lonnnnnnng term investment .... I suggest maybe we just need to outlive them ...

 

Back to others ? Most probably ...at least the money is still in the bank ...but definately not in mine or yours ...