Singapore's Temasek eyes Latin America

Singapore's Temasek eyes Latin America
AFP - 1 hour 35 minutes ago

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore's state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings will increase its focus on opportunities in Latin America with the appointment of two top executives to look after the region, the firm said.

"We believe the Latin American region holds long term potential and offers attractive investment prospects," said Tow Heng Tan, Temasek's senior managing director and chief investment officer, in a statement Wednesday.

Tow added that the firm expects to gradually increase its portfolio exposure in Brazil, Mexico and the rest of the Latin American region.

"We will look seriously at opportunities that may arise, but we also do not seek to target any specific investment amount of capital within any given time frame," he said.

Temasek said Lorenzo Gonzalez Bosco, appointed as managing director for investment, Mexico, will work alongside Alan Thompson, the managing director for Investment, Latin America.

Temasek is among Asia's top investors with a diversified portfolio it said is worth 164 billion Singapore dollars (120 billion US).

It holds stakes in several leading local companies including Singapore Airlines and has stakes in several top regional firms spanning a wide spectrum of industries such as banking and telecommunications.

The company said last year that it had increased its exposure to Asia -- outside of Singapore and Japan -- to 40 percent from 34 percent previously.