December 25, 2007: Singapore Government Company Buys Major Stake in US Bank

Temasek Holdings, an arm of Singapore’s government, buys a large stake in the troubled US financial services company Merrill Lynch. It pays $48 per share, 13 percent less than the market value, and spends a total of $4.4bn. It also has an option to purchase a further $600m worth of shares by the end of March 2008, but agrees not to sell for a year. The asset manager Davis Selected Holdings also takes a smaller stake in Merrill Lynch. The shares purchased are newly issued, meaning the existing stockholders’ influence is diluted. However, the company needs the extra cash in order to cope with its losses on the subprime mortgage market. [Reuters, 12/25/2007] However, Merrill Lynch will sell more new shares for a lower price a few months later. This activates a clause in the agreement with Temasek saying it is entitled to a discount, totaling around 50 percent on the price of the shares sold in December 2007. Temasek reinvests this discount in additional Merrill Lynch shares (see July 29, 2008). [Agency France-Presse, 9/15/2008]