Advertisement
Banking & finance
BusinessBanking & Finance

Singapore’s Temasek trims stake in ICBC as China’s slumping property market dents state lenders’ profits

  • Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, cut its stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to less than 5 per cent
  • The profitability of China’s state lenders has suffered as a result of slowing economic growth and a prolonged downturn in the property sector

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The state investor reported a 5.2 per cent drop in its net portfolio value to US$283.4 billion in the financial year ended March 2023. Photo: Shutterstock
Yuke Xiein Beijing
Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, cut its stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) twice in one day last week, reducing its share of the lender to less than 5 per cent.
Advertisement

The state investor first trimmed its allocation in China’s biggest bank by selling 825 million H-shares at an average price of HK$4.7 each on May 27, taking its stake from 6.01 per cent to 5.06 per cent, AA Stocks reported on Tuesday.

This was followed by a further cut of HK$408 million on the same day, lowering Temasek’s stake in ICBC to to 4.96 per cent, according to the financial news portal.

Temasek declined to comment when contacted by the Post.

The move came after the sovereign wealth fund posted a rare net loss of US$7.3 billion for the financial year of 2023 amid geopolitical uncertainties and elevated interest rates. That stood in stark contrast with a net profit of US$11 billion in 2022, and marked the first time that Temasek’s profit has turned negative since 2016.
Advertisement

The state investor also reported a 5.2 per cent drop in its net portfolio value to US$283.4 billion in the financial year ended March 2023 – the first such decline since 2020.

Advertisement