Singapore increases stake in Standard Chartered to 18%

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The sovereign wealth fund has regularly increased its interest in the British bank since entering the share register with 12% just over a year ago. It has now spent £220 million on 12 million shares to raise its stake by 1% to 253.7 million shares.

Temasek has been one of the forerunners in the buying spree by sovereign wealth funds that are snapping up global assets, causing alarm among some politicians in Europe and the US. The Singapore fund, set up in 1974, is the grandfather of such state-owned investors, and last week was tipped to invest $5 billion (£2.5 billion) in Wall Street bank Merrill Lynch to give it a potential holding of 10%.

The Singapore company first bought a stake in Standard Chartered from the estate of late Singapore hotelier Khoo Teck Puat in March 2006.

At current levels of Singapore investment, Standard Chartered is nearer to the risk of losing the ability to issue banknotes in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has announced that it will bar lenders that are 20%-owned by foreign governments from issuing notes denominated in Hong Kong dollars.

Temasek suggested today that its investment may now stabilise.

"We are comfortable with our current level of shareholding," executive director Simon Israel told Bloomberg. "As a financial investor, we are not involved in the bank's board and management."

Asia-focused Standard Chartered has seen its value increase by 23% on the London Stock Exchange in the past year.