Temasek is single-largest foreign investor in Chinese banks: report
Its combined holdings in three Chinese banks is valued at US$18 billion
Singapore
SINGAPORE's Temasek Holdings is the single-largest foreign investor in Chinese banks, data from SNL Financial showed on Tuesday.
And this comes as Chinese banks have outdone their peers in the region, according to indices from SNL. Its SNL China Bank index gained 34.71 per cent in the one year through March 31, far outperforming the SNL Asia-Pacific Bank index, which rose 7.56 per cent. These regional banks would include those from Japan and Australia.
The data on foreign investments in Chinese banks includes all classes of publicly traded common shares, but excludes investments reported before Jan 1, 2014. The market value of each investor's stake in a company was calculated based on the March 31, 2015 closing price.
Temasek emerged top of the foreign investors list with a combined stake valued at US$18 billion.
This was driven by holdings in three Chinese banks. It has a 6 per cent stake in China Construction Bank Corp, worth US$12 billion as at March 31. It is also invested in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), holding US$5.76 billion of shares.
Temasek is followed by Vanguard Group Inc and BlackRock Fund Advisors, two behemoths in the institutional space. Vanguard Group's holdings in 15 Chinese banks were valued at US$6.14 billion as at March 31, while BlackRock Fund Advisors' stakes in as many companies were valued at US$4.96 billion. BlackRock Inc's two UK units also appeared on the list, with aggregate investments of nearly US$480 billion.
Collectively, US institutions such as Vanguard and BlackRock held the largest stake in Chinese banks. The 10 US companies that made it to the top-25 list of foreign investors in Chinese banks held a combined US$20.1 billion of shares in Chinese lenders.
The only other Singaporean company on the list is Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Ltd, which had investments totalling US$810 million in four Chinese banks as at March 31. Eastspring Investments is a unit of Prudential.
Six of the top 25 came from the UK. The only Norway-based company on the list, Norges Bank Investment Management, is ranked fourth with a portfolio worth US$2.74 billion.
ICBC and China Construction Bank were the most popular Chinese banks for foreign investors, with 413 and 391 firms, respectively, holding the stocks, according to SNL.
China Construction Bank ranked top in terms of the total value of foreign ownership, with US$25.03 billion. This was followed by ICBC with US$19.45 billion, Bank of China with US$11.09 billion, and Agricultural Bank of China with US$5.68 billion.
