SINGAPORE sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings wants to
increase its exposure to mining in Mongolia and is also looking for
opportunities to invest in the mining sector in Africa.
'We made investments in Mongolia and we are fairly bullish about
Mongolia,' said Mr Nagi Hamiyeh, managing director of investments
at Temasek, on the sidelines of a mining conference in Singapore on
Tuesday.
'We believe that Mongolia is starting its journey in the mining
space so that would be one of the many countries that we would look
at.' Mongolia is treading cautiously as it taps its huge mineral
wealth.
Temasek was one of the cornerstone investors for the $439
million Hong Kong IPO of Mongolia-focused miner SouthGobi Energy
Resources in January. It also holds a stake worth $150 million in
Lung Ming, which owns and operates the Eruu Gol iron ore mine in
Mongolia, according to its latest annual report.
But Temasek has not been as aggressive as sovereign wealth fund
China Investment Corp (CIC), which has invested billions of dollars
in resources deals in Indonesia, Singapore and Mongolia.
Temasek CEO Ho Ching said last year that the state investor was
interested in resources as an asset class. Energy and resources
made up just 5 per cent of Temasek's portfolio, as of March 2009.
It managed $122 billion in total as of end-July.
-- THOMSON REUTERS