Temasek Holdings has divested its entire 2% stake in UK bank Barclays Plc and has suffered a loss of £500-600m (S$1.2-1.4bn)

Stocks took a breather on Wednesday, halting a four-day winning streak, as falling oil prices hit energy shares, while less upbeat economic reports rekindled worries about recovery prospects. Oil prices slipped more than 3% to US$66.12/bbl after a surprise build-up in inventories.

On the economic front, data showed the vast service sector contracted for the eight straight month in May and a report showing employers axed 532,000 private-sector jobs last month. The data fell short of expectations and indicated that profit growth for companies will take longer than expected. The employment data is typically indicative of the government's unemployment report, due on Friday. The unemployment rate is forecast to jump to 9.2% from 8.9% in April.
Back in Singapore, Keppel is in Focus. SKEIE Drilling and Production (SKDP), a customer of Keppel Corp, is at risk of filing for bankruptcy if a proposed restructuring falls through. SKDP has proposed to restructure its balance sheet by i) extending the delivery dates of the 3 N-class rigs at Keppel yard by 4-6 months and ii) raising additional US$170m together with Wideluck Pte Ltd (Keppel's subsi) via US$85m equity and private placements. Keppel Corp's stake in the 3 rigs is estimated at about 10%. However, SKDP's proposal have been rejected by a group of bondholders which hold majority share of its 3 secured bond loans issued by SKDP. We have a SELL rating on Keppel Corp with a target price of S$7.10.

Temasek Holdings has bailed out of another banking investment: it has divested its entire 2% stake in UK bank Barclays Plc and has suffered a loss of £500-600m (S$1.2-1.4bn) in the process.

Temasek's loss is in sharp contrast to Abu Dhabi which sold more than 11 percent of the bank's shares on Tuesday, making a $2.5 billion profit in just seven months

Temasek first invested in Barclays in mid-2007 when Barclays was pitted against Royal Bank of Scotland in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to buy ABN Amro. At the time, Temasek purchased 135m shares, or about 1.61 per cent of Barclays. Last year, Temasek said it would spend up to £200m when Barclays launched a placing to raise £4.5bn. However, it did not disclose how many shares it actually purchased. It declined to comment on this year's sale, saying: "It is inappropriate for us to comment on individual share transactions."

Source:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eab5c5a6-509f-11de-9530-00144feabdc0.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124402933796181059.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSL334812220090603