Temasek Holdings Pte and Government of Singapore Investment Corp. raised about US$9.9 billion ($13 billion) from international investors over the past year, selling more debt and equity than any other state investment firm.

Temasek, based in Singapore, sold almost US$6 billion of bonds since October last year. Temasek-controlled Mapletree Industrial Trust and Global Logistic Properties, GIC’s overseas logistics unit, raised $5.1 billion selling shares in October, accounting for 10% of the record initial public offerings in the Asia-Pacific region that month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sovereign investment firms with stakes in government-linked companies and real estate are increasingly turning to private investors for funds and are using debt to increase leverage as they reduce state exposure. Global Logistic’s IPO was the first listing by a firm majority-owned by GIC, while sovereign wealth funds in Bahrain and Qatar sold debt overseas for the first time.

“There is a broader push among sovereign investors to diversify some of their funding sources,” said Rachel Ziemba, London-based senior analyst at Roubini Global Economics LLC, who tracks state wealth funds. “For entities like Temasek, they can’t necessarily depend on new inflows of capital from their shareholder in the way that some of the other sovereign funds do.”

Temasek, wholly owned by Singapore’s Ministry of Finance, was set up in 1974, making it one of Asia’s oldest state investment arms. It generates assets from the income of the companies it owns, and not government budget surpluses or oil revenue.

Temasek Transformed
Helmed by Chief Executive Officer Ho Ching, it is the biggest shareholder in four of Singapore’s 10 biggest listed companies by market value and managed $186 billion in assets as of March 31. Ho, wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has transformed it from a passive holder of stakes in government-controlled firms to an investor with more than two-thirds of underlying assets abroad.

Having private bondholders or shareholders forces the firms to improve transparency and backs their claims of having “apolitical” investment strategies, said Victoria Barbary, a senior analyst at Monitor Group in London, which collects data on global sovereign wealth funds.

Temasek said in an open letter to the Australian media dated Oct. 31 that it doesn’t interfere in the running of the Singapore Exchange, after the bourse faced political opposition to its A$8.4 billion ($10.6 billion) bid for ASX, Australia’s main exchange. Temasek indirectly owns about 23% of Singapore Exchange, according to Bloomberg data.