Singapore sovereign fund GIC pares UBS stake at a loss

by Dramelin 9:00 AM 0 comments

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pvt.
, which invested in UBS to support it during the 2008-09 global financial crisis, said it has cut its stake in the Swiss bank at a loss, partly because of changes in the lender`s strategy and business.
GIC, which manages more than $100 billion globally, said it has reduced its stake to 2.
"GIC made the UBS sale despite the loss because conditions have changed fundamentally since GIC invested in UBS in February 2008, as have UBS` strategy and business," Lim Chow Kiat, chief executive of GIC, said in a statement issued on Monday.
"It makes sense now for GIC to reduce its ownership of UBS and to redeploy these resources elsewhere," he said.
The fund said, however, that its investment in U.
bank Citigroup Inc.
, also made at the height of the global financial crisis, was in the black and that combined returns for UBS and Citi were positive in "mark-to-market terms.
" GIC measures its performance on an overall portfolio basis, based on long term rather than annual returns.
GIC is keeping its profitable investment in Citi.