Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Temasek Holdings Pte, the biggest shareholder in Standard Chartered Plc, increased its stake in the U.K. bank by 1 percentage point to 18 percent, helping it boost banking investments in its $100 billion portfolio.
The Singapore sovereign wealth fund has been raising its stake in Standard Chartered since it first bought a 12 percent holding more than a year ago. Temasek bought 12 million shares to lift its stake to 253.7 million shares, the bank said in a filing on Dec. 21. The additional shares are worth 220 million pounds ($436 million) at that day's closing price of 1,835 pence.
Set up in 1974 to run state assets, Temasek's financial services investments now include India's ICICI Bank Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd., as well as a controlling stake in DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Southeast Asia's biggest bank. It may also invest $5 billion in Merrill Lynch & Co., the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing unidentified people.
``Most of Temasek's investments in the banking sector are doing very well,'' Teng Ngiek Lian, who manages $3 billion of Asian stocks as chief executive officer of Target Asset Management in Singapore, said in an interview today. ``Standard Chartered is very well exposed to the emerging markets, which many view as very exciting.''
Shares of Standard Chartered, which gets most of its profit from Asia, rose 1.1 percent to 1,856 pence at 8:59 a.m. in London trading. The stock has risen 24 percent this year, the best performer on the nine-member FTSE All-Share Banks Index.
`Comfortable' With Shareholding
Temasek first bought a stake in Standard Chartered from the estate of late Singapore hotelier Khoo Teck Puat in March 2006. Temasek held 13 percent of the London-based bank as of March this year, according to its annual report.
``We are comfortable with our current level of shareholding'' in Standard Chartered, Simon Israel, executive director at Temasek, said in an e-mailed statement today. ``As a financial investor, we are not involved in the bank's board and management.''
Israel didn't comment on the Merrill report in today's e- mail. The Journal said Dec. 21 the Singapore fund will invest in the world's biggest brokerage through a cash infusion. Merrill announced $8.4 billion of writedowns on mortgage-related investments and corporate loans on Oct. 24, and then ousted Chief Executive Officer Stan O'Neal. The stock rose 1.9 percent on Dec. 21 following the report on Temasek's investment.
The latest purchase also puts Standard Chartered closer to being at risk of losing the ability to issue notes in Hong Kong. The city will bar lenders that are 20 percent owned by foreign governments from issuing bank notes denominated in the local currency, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said in July.
Investments in financial services companies accounted for 38 percent of Temasek's portfolio in the year ended March, compared with 35 percent a year earlier, making it the biggest industry for the company's assets, according to its annual report.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
人 行 大 幅 調 高 準 備 金 率 1 個 百 分 點 抑 制 信 貸 過 快 增 長
人 民 銀 行 今 年 內 第 10 次 調 高 存 款 準 備 金 率 ， 幅 度 由 過 往 的 半 個 百 分 點 ， 擴 大 至 1 個 百 分 點 ， 是 4 年 來 首 次 。 新 的 存 款 準 備 金 率 是 14.5% ， 本 月 25 日 起 生 效 。
人 行 說 ， 調 高 存 款 準 備 金 率 ， 是 要 加 強 銀 行 體 系 流 動 性 管 理 ， 抑 制 貨 幣 信 貸 過 快 增 長 。
人 行 說 ， 調 高 存 款 準 備 金 率 ， 是 要 加 強 銀 行 體 系 流 動 性 管 理 ， 抑 制 貨 幣 信 貸 過 快 增 長 。
Saturday, December 8, 2007
China Life Is Said to Buy into Japan Financial Firm
BEIJING, Dec 07, 2007 (SinoCast China Financial Watch via COMTEX) -- LFC | charts | news | PowerRating -- China Life Insurance Company Limited (China Life and SHSE: 601628 and SEHK: 2628), the country's biggest life insurer, will be likely to buy into a Japanese counterpart or an asset management firm, according to the Japanese media.
Yang Chao, board chairman of China Life, disclosed in an interview that he had met executives of several Japanese insurance and asset management firms and talked with local financial institutions over the possible equity acquisition. However, the board chairman did not mention names of the specific targets, acquisition timetable or clauses.
Notably, the life insurer has had talks with several European and US insurers and asset management companies. Prudential Plc and Aviva Plc are two of the guessed companies, according to a report.
In addition, Axa and ING Group, which are now expanding business in Asia, are also China Life's possible acquisition targets.
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (Ping An, SHSE: 601318 and SEHK: 2318) recently gained the regulatory approval to use up to 15% of its assets for investments in Hong Kong and other important equity investments.
Generally, local insurers' such investments can only account for not more than 5% of their total assets. Ping An, China's second biggest insurer by market share, is the first one to win the highest quota.
Its assets had totaled CNY 624 billion by September 30, 2007. Thus, more than CNY 100 billion can be used for such investments in 2008.
The insurer was just permitted to buy a 4.2 percent stake in Dutch-Belgian financial services firm Fortis for EUR 1.81 billion.
China Life reaped net profit of CNY 24.7 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 2007.
Earnings per share were 0.87, showed the Beijing insurer's third-quarter financial results dated October 30.
Investment revenue surged sharply in the period. Investment assets stood at CNY 878.8 billion as of September 30, 2007 and return rate on investment hit 8.63%. Meanwhile, the life insurer saw a growth in the core business. Receivable premiums reached CNY 7.8 billion as at the end of this September, versus CNY 5.73 billion at last yearend.
As of September 30, 2007, assets of China Life totaled CNY 925.2 billion and capital stock consisted of 28.26 billion shares. In terms of market cap, it has become the biggest listed insurer globally. Also, its sellable financial assets were as many as CNY 381.9 billion, surging 59.49% over the end of last year.
Yang Chao, board chairman of China Life, disclosed in an interview that he had met executives of several Japanese insurance and asset management firms and talked with local financial institutions over the possible equity acquisition. However, the board chairman did not mention names of the specific targets, acquisition timetable or clauses.
Notably, the life insurer has had talks with several European and US insurers and asset management companies. Prudential Plc and Aviva Plc are two of the guessed companies, according to a report.
In addition, Axa and ING Group, which are now expanding business in Asia, are also China Life's possible acquisition targets.
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (Ping An, SHSE: 601318 and SEHK: 2318) recently gained the regulatory approval to use up to 15% of its assets for investments in Hong Kong and other important equity investments.
Generally, local insurers' such investments can only account for not more than 5% of their total assets. Ping An, China's second biggest insurer by market share, is the first one to win the highest quota.
Its assets had totaled CNY 624 billion by September 30, 2007. Thus, more than CNY 100 billion can be used for such investments in 2008.
The insurer was just permitted to buy a 4.2 percent stake in Dutch-Belgian financial services firm Fortis for EUR 1.81 billion.
China Life reaped net profit of CNY 24.7 billion in the nine months ended September 30, 2007.
Earnings per share were 0.87, showed the Beijing insurer's third-quarter financial results dated October 30.
Investment revenue surged sharply in the period. Investment assets stood at CNY 878.8 billion as of September 30, 2007 and return rate on investment hit 8.63%. Meanwhile, the life insurer saw a growth in the core business. Receivable premiums reached CNY 7.8 billion as at the end of this September, versus CNY 5.73 billion at last yearend.
As of September 30, 2007, assets of China Life totaled CNY 925.2 billion and capital stock consisted of 28.26 billion shares. In terms of market cap, it has become the biggest listed insurer globally. Also, its sellable financial assets were as many as CNY 381.9 billion, surging 59.49% over the end of last year.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Standard Chartered takes on $1.7 bln SIV assets
LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Asia-focused Standard Chartered said on Wednesday the dislocation in the credit markets and the liquidity crunch had forced it to take $1.7 billion of assets from a debt vehicle onto its balance sheet.
Standard Chartered -- an investor in the capital notes of the Whistlejacket structured investment vehicle that it manages -- said the SIV had offered capital note holders the opportunity to take "vertical" slices of its portfolio to cope with a drop in the value of its assets.
The bank said it had exchanged $140 million of capital notes for a slice of Whistlejacket assets amounting to around $1.68 billion. The move will have an impact on the bank's Tier 1 capital ratio of less than 0.1 percent.
Group Finance Director Richard Meddings said the deal accounted for around half of StandardChartered's capital note holdings and said it was "highly likely" that all of the bank's remaining capital notes in Whistlejacket would be retired by the end of the year.
Banks that have created these vehicles have been scrambling to find ways to support them as they have been caught out by the credit turmoil. SIVs' access to funding has been cut off and the value of their assets has fallen sharply, leading to pressure on triggers in the structures that could force fire sales of assets.
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, last week took its two structured investment vehicles back on balance sheet in their entirety, taking $45 billion of assets and associated funding onto its books.
Whistlejacket's assets stood at $10.8 billion at the end of November, down from $18.2 billion at the end of August, after asset sales, repurchase operations and vertical slice deals with other noteholders.
"The group remains confident in the underlying quality of the assets acquired and it is expected that the temporary write down in value will flow back through income over the next three and a half years, which is the average life of the assets," the bank said.
VERY HIGH QUALITY
Standard Chartered said the assets remained of "a very high quality", 95 percent rated double-A or higher by Moody's Investors Service.
It said 40 percent of the exposure was to financial institution debt, 7 percent to triple-A rated monoline insurers, 48 percent in asset-backed securities and 5 percent in collateralised debt obligations backed by asset-backed securities (CDOs of ABS).
Moody's last week threatened to cut the top-ranking Aaa long-term and Prime-1 short-term ratings assigned to $4.9 billion of debt issued by Whistlejacket.
It said the structure's net asset value -- a measure of the value of the subordinated debt issued by the vehicle -- had declined to 69 percent from 80 percent as of Sept. 5 as market values of the assets held fell materially.
Standard Chartered -- an investor in the capital notes of the Whistlejacket structured investment vehicle that it manages -- said the SIV had offered capital note holders the opportunity to take "vertical" slices of its portfolio to cope with a drop in the value of its assets.
The bank said it had exchanged $140 million of capital notes for a slice of Whistlejacket assets amounting to around $1.68 billion. The move will have an impact on the bank's Tier 1 capital ratio of less than 0.1 percent.
Group Finance Director Richard Meddings said the deal accounted for around half of StandardChartered's capital note holdings and said it was "highly likely" that all of the bank's remaining capital notes in Whistlejacket would be retired by the end of the year.
Banks that have created these vehicles have been scrambling to find ways to support them as they have been caught out by the credit turmoil. SIVs' access to funding has been cut off and the value of their assets has fallen sharply, leading to pressure on triggers in the structures that could force fire sales of assets.
HSBC
Whistlejacket's assets stood at $10.8 billion at the end of November, down from $18.2 billion at the end of August, after asset sales, repurchase operations and vertical slice deals with other noteholders.
"The group remains confident in the underlying quality of the assets acquired and it is expected that the temporary write down in value will flow back through income over the next three and a half years, which is the average life of the assets," the bank said.
VERY HIGH QUALITY
Standard Chartered said the assets remained of "a very high quality", 95 percent rated double-A or higher by Moody's Investors Service.
It said 40 percent of the exposure was to financial institution debt, 7 percent to triple-A rated monoline insurers, 48 percent in asset-backed securities and 5 percent in collateralised debt obligations backed by asset-backed securities (CDOs of ABS).
Moody's last week threatened to cut the top-ranking Aaa long-term and Prime-1 short-term ratings assigned to $4.9 billion of debt issued by Whistlejacket.
It said the structure's net asset value -- a measure of the value of the subordinated debt issued by the vehicle -- had declined to 69 percent from 80 percent as of Sept. 5 as market values of the assets held fell materially.
Standard Chartered Says 2007 Profit Will Rise 25%
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc, the only U.K. bank stock to rise this year, said 2007 profit will increase 25 percent and meet analysts' estimates even after a writedown.
The company is ``broadly comfortable'' with analysts' forecasts that pretax profit will be $3.96 billion, the London- based bank said today in a statement. It took a $46 million writedown on the Whistlejacket Capital Ltd. structured investment vehicle, and additional charges on the fund may reduce 2007 profit, the bank said on a conference call.
``It is not a profit warning, but at the margins this is slightly negative,'' said Simon Maughan, a London-based analyst at MF Global Securities Ltd. ``There will be hit on this year's numbers,'' said Maughan who has a ``neutral'' rating on the stock.
Standard Chartered, which gets most of its profit in Asia, said it will ``accelerate investment,'' with expenses increasing at the same rate as income. The bank spent more than $2.7 billion on acquisitions since 2006, including Hsinchu International Bank in Taiwan and Union Bank Ltd. in Pakistan. Its workforce in China has more than doubled to about 3,800.
Standard Chartered fell 0.1 percent to 1,855 pence at 10:06 a.m. in London trading, valuing the bank at 26 billion pounds ($53 billion). The stock is up 24 percent this year, the only gainer in the nine-member FTSE 350 Banks Index, down 19 percent.
Standard Chartered will take a $133 million charge on mortgage securitizations in Korea, it said. The company won't book a $120 million sale of an asset-management company in India this year as anticipated, Standard Chartered said. Operating profit before tax in Korea will show a ``moderate reduction'' from the year-earlier period, the company said.
`Acutely Vigilant'
The bank will be ``acutely vigilant for any signs of slowdown or deterioration impacting our markets,'' Chief Executive Officer Peter Sands said in the statement. A deterioration in the U.S. would have ``an impact'' on Asia, said Finance Director Richard Meddings on a conference call with reporters today.
Standard Chartered's net income will rise 18 percent to $2.7 billion this year, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
``The underlying business showed some improvements, and that is probably good in this environment,'' said Neil Wesley, who helps manage 1.7 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) for London-based Morley Fund Management Ltd., including Standard Chartered. ``All in all, this is a positive.''
Thirteen analysts rate Standard Chartered ``sell'' or ``hold,'' according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They outnumber the 11 analysts who recommend buying the shares. Analysts' median price target is about 1,770 pence, less than yesterday's closing prices of 1,847 pence.
The stock has been lifted by speculation last month that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp. approached Temasek Holdings Pte about buying its 17.2 percent stake in the company, said Mona Chung, who helps manage $2.5 billion at Daiwa Asset Management Ltd. in Hong Kong. Temasek is Singapore's state-owned investment company.
The company is ``broadly comfortable'' with analysts' forecasts that pretax profit will be $3.96 billion, the London- based bank said today in a statement. It took a $46 million writedown on the Whistlejacket Capital Ltd. structured investment vehicle, and additional charges on the fund may reduce 2007 profit, the bank said on a conference call.
``It is not a profit warning, but at the margins this is slightly negative,'' said Simon Maughan, a London-based analyst at MF Global Securities Ltd. ``There will be hit on this year's numbers,'' said Maughan who has a ``neutral'' rating on the stock.
Standard Chartered, which gets most of its profit in Asia, said it will ``accelerate investment,'' with expenses increasing at the same rate as income. The bank spent more than $2.7 billion on acquisitions since 2006, including Hsinchu International Bank in Taiwan and Union Bank Ltd. in Pakistan. Its workforce in China has more than doubled to about 3,800.
Standard Chartered fell 0.1 percent to 1,855 pence at 10:06 a.m. in London trading, valuing the bank at 26 billion pounds ($53 billion). The stock is up 24 percent this year, the only gainer in the nine-member FTSE 350 Banks Index, down 19 percent.
Standard Chartered will take a $133 million charge on mortgage securitizations in Korea, it said. The company won't book a $120 million sale of an asset-management company in India this year as anticipated, Standard Chartered said. Operating profit before tax in Korea will show a ``moderate reduction'' from the year-earlier period, the company said.
`Acutely Vigilant'
The bank will be ``acutely vigilant for any signs of slowdown or deterioration impacting our markets,'' Chief Executive Officer Peter Sands said in the statement. A deterioration in the U.S. would have ``an impact'' on Asia, said Finance Director Richard Meddings on a conference call with reporters today.
Standard Chartered's net income will rise 18 percent to $2.7 billion this year, according to the median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
``The underlying business showed some improvements, and that is probably good in this environment,'' said Neil Wesley, who helps manage 1.7 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) for London-based Morley Fund Management Ltd., including Standard Chartered. ``All in all, this is a positive.''
Thirteen analysts rate Standard Chartered ``sell'' or ``hold,'' according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They outnumber the 11 analysts who recommend buying the shares. Analysts' median price target is about 1,770 pence, less than yesterday's closing prices of 1,847 pence.
The stock has been lifted by speculation last month that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp. approached Temasek Holdings Pte about buying its 17.2 percent stake in the company, said Mona Chung, who helps manage $2.5 billion at Daiwa Asset Management Ltd. in Hong Kong. Temasek is Singapore's state-owned investment company.
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