| Associated
Press December 10, 2007 SINGAPORE A SINGAPORE government investment company that manages the city-state's foreign reserves said Monday, Dec 10, that it will own around 9 percent of Swiss banking giant UBS AG following its investment of 11 billion Swiss francs (US$9.75 billion; €6.65 billion; S$14billion) in the lender. The investment by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, or GIC, in UBS is for the long term, and the Singapore investment agency is not seeking management control of the bank, said Deputy Chairman Tony Tan at a press conference. "GIC is now the single largest investor in UBS and this is the largest investment GIC has made in any company," Tan said. "We did not make it a condition that our investment should have a representation (on UBS's board.) We have no desire to control the business of the bank." Tan said that the drop in the stocks of financial institutions as a result of the US subprime mortgage crisis makes banks a good investment. UBS said earlier Monday it will write off a further US$10 billion (€6.83 billion) on losses in the US subprime lending market. The Swiss bank will borrow around 13 billion francs (US$11.51 billion; €7.86 billion) from outside investors, sell treasury shares and replace its 2007 cash dividend to shareholders with a stock dividend, bringing in a total of 19.4 billion francs (US$17.18 billion; €11.73 billion) to shore up its capital base, it said. The GIC manages more than US$100 billion (€68 billion) of assets invested in over 40 countries, according to its Web site. |
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