By P.R. Venkat
Heavy buying by Singapore companies, such as an $8.1 billion
purchase in the U.S. by a consortium including sovereign-wealth
fund GIC Pte. Ltd., has sent acquisitions to record highs this
year.
Thanks to new opportunities such as firms that have presented
themselves as candidates for initial public offerings, Singapore's
companies have bought close to $59 billion in assets both
domestically and overseas. Buying by GIC and Temasek Holdings Pte.
Ltd., the government's two investment firms, accounts for more than
a third of the total.
Together, GIC and Temasek have spent close to a record $21
billion, according to figures from Dealogic, a data-tracking
company, more than double the $8.9 billion they spent last year.
The total is more than the $19.8 billion they spent in 2007, when
the state investment companies laid out billions of dollars to
acquire stakes in banks such as Barclays PLC, Merrill Lynch and UBS
AG.
This time, rather than stakes in Western banks, Singapore's
state firms are buying everything from U.S. warehouses to a British
car-breakdown service. Other Singapore companies are making deals
as well.
Some of the buying is being driven by a return of confidence in
mergers and acquisitions, a global trend, but an effort to find
assets whose earnings will grow is another driver. Annualized
economic growth in this city of 5.4 million people was 2.8% in the
third quarter, down from 5% in the same quarter a year earlier.
To that end, companies are looking to China and the West. Buying
by GIC, Temasek and many of the companies they own stakes in has
accounted for nearly half of this year's M&A by Singapore
firms.
"Transactions have been motivated by a number of classic M&A
drivers for strategics--pursuit of growth outside of the domestic
market to diversify, industry consolidation to drive synergies and
build scale, attractive funding environment, and increased
strategic focus through divestment of noncore assets," said Eugene
Gong, head of Southeast Asia M&A at Deutsche Bank in
Singapore.
"Confidence [among Singapore firms] has generally outweighed
caution, and companies have become more strategic and
long-term-oriented in their outlook," he said.
This year, Temasek and GIC have found investment targets in
companies that had been working on IPOs but decided to sell
themselves instead. Buying those businesses--or parts of
them--represents a shift from a previous strategy of acquiring
stakes in companies via IPOs overseas.
On Monday, Virtu Financial LLC, an electronic market-maker that
postponed plans for an IPO in April amid market turbulence and
increased regulatory scrutiny of high-frequency trading, said
Temasek has agreed to buy a stake in it. The 10% stake was worth
$200 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
And in a surprise move this month, GIC and Global Logistics
Properties Ltd., a warehouse company that counts GIC as its largest
shareholder, agreed to buy IndCor Properties, a U.S. warehouse
operator that Blackstone Group LP had been planning to sell via an
IPO.
The IndCor purchase is one of the biggest by GIC since it bought
more than 9% of Citigroup Inc., then reeling from the fallout of
the financial crisis, for $6.9 billion in 2008.
In March, Temasek purchased a quarter of Hong Kong tycoon Li
Ka-Shing's A.S. Watson Co. for $5.7 billion.
It was the biggest overseas investment yet by the Singapore
investment company. The deal positioned Temasek to benefit not only
from the cash flow generated by the Hong Kong retailer's drugstores
and supermarkets, but also from its drugstore operations in the
U.K. and across Europe.
Temasek says consumer-focused companies allow it to benefit as
more people enter the middle class, and that such deals are part of
its strategy as it shapes its portfolio for the long term.
In September, GIC bought a majority stake in British
roadside-assistance provider RAC from Carlyle Group LP, putting to
rest a plan by Carlyle to float RAC in London. The RAC deal gave
GIC exposure to the British firm's lucrative used-car business.
GIC, which according to analysts manages assets worth close to
$300 billion, invests only overseas. Temasek is permitted to invest
in Singapore as well. Its portfolio is valued at $179 billion.
"As a long-term value investor, we assess markets over several
cycles and pursue idiosyncratic investment opportunities to build a
diversified portfolio," Lim Chow Kiat, GIC's chief investment
officer, said in an emailed statement.
"We are careful not to overpay for an asset, which is why our
investment teams are very focused on determining the intrinsic
value of the investment."
Taking advantage of China's growing wealth has also been a
priority for Singapore companies.
In July, Overseas Chinese Banking Corp. spent $5 billion to buy
Hong Kong-listed Wing Hang Bank Ltd., a move that was intended to
increase its exposure to mainland China.
The transaction also gave OCBC a foothold in Macau, the gambling
enclave.
In March, DBS Bank Ltd. bought Société Générale SA's Asian
private-banking business for $220 million. Temasek owns nearly 29%
of DBS Group Holdings Ltd., the bank's parent company.
Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com
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