Temasek goes for Thailand

Temasek Holdings, the state-owned investment agency of Singapore eyes Thailand’s banking sector. This is, as we recorded earlier, a reaction to the governments intention of having Singaporean companies expand across the region.

Temasek will contribute to a 10 billion Baht fund with the Thai Government Pension Fund and Brunei Investment Agency to invest in Thailand. The New Straits Times (Malaysia) quotes Thai Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak as saying that Temasek is really interested in Thailand’s smaller airports and Thai banks. Could there be a link to the success of Malaysia’s budget airline Air Asia and the effort of Singapore to get its own budget airline running? Air Asia didn’t get a landing permission for Changi Airport Singapore, and its intentions to shuttle passengers from neighbouring Johor State in Malaysia to Singapore were thwarted as well.

(By Asia Business Consulting)