Temasek eyes defence deals as Europe boosts military spending, executive says
Defence will form part of Temasek’s broader push to invest more across Europe, the Middle East and Africa
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[PARIS] Temasek is looking to increase its investments in defence as the war in Ukraine prompts European governments to boost military spending, a senior executive said.
Defence will form part of Temasek’s broader push to invest more across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which today account for just 12 per cent of its S$518 billion portfolio.
“We have so far in the last two years invested something like 13 billion euros (US$14.8 billion) (in Europe, the Middle East and Africa),” Nagi Hamiyeh, Temasek’s president of global investments and head of Emea, told Reuters.
The fund said in 2024 that it aimed to invest up to about 17 billion euros in the region by 2029.
Defence is one sector that Temasek is now looking at more seriously, Hamiyeh said, citing rising government defence budgets.
“We have one company in Singapore, ST Engineering, which mainly serves the needs of the Singapore Armed Forces. But besides that, we never really looked at defence,” he said in an interview.
“But now when you look at deterrence, when you look at sovereignty, we’re starting to make an exception.”
Temasek will mainly target dual-use technologies – products serving both civilian and military customers – rather than pure defence manufacturers, Hamiyeh said, while adhering to its environmental, social and governance guidelines.
“We have very, very clear guidelines when it comes to ESG in terms of responsible management, in terms of nothing to do with biological and chemical warfare,” he said.
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Defence sits alongside energy transition, infrastructure, luxury goods, industrial technology and life sciences as sectors where Hamiyeh said Europe had a “right to win”.
Temasek is also concentrating on larger European deals, with a minimum ticket size of 200 million euros and a preferred range of 500 million euros to one billion euros, to allow its Europe investment team of about 30 people to play an active role after investing, Hamiyeh said.
Around 73 per cent of Temasek’s underlying exposure is outside Singapore, with 26 per cent in the Americas and 17 per cent in China, according to its website. About half the portfolio is in unlisted assets.
In Europe, Temasek has invested in sectors ranging from fintech and healthcare to energy, including in Dutch payments company Adyen and French AI startup Mistral AI. REUTERS
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