Temasek Holdings appoints new chairman

Temasek Holdings, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, said on Monday that Lim Boon Heng, a former politician, was appointed to succeed outgoing chairman S Dhanabalan.

Effective from August 1, Lim will be the fourth chairman of the city-state's sovereign wealth fund.

According to the company's press release, Dhanabalan has been the chairman for nearly 17 years since September 1996. He will turn 76 years old shortly after his retirement early next month. He is the longest serving chairman of Temasek.

The company said "Dhanabalan shaped the ethos of Temasek as an active shareholder and investor, a forward-looking institution, and a trusted steward", adding that "he enabled Temasek to build on its strong foundation in Singapore and nurture a global leadership team of diverse talent."

"Post 2000, Temasek stepped up its regional investments to add a robust Asia growth element to its portfolio. This layered in a more resilient balance of growth and stability for the Temasek portfolio as a whole," the company added.

It said during the process, the value of the portfolio of the sovereign wealth fund had grown from 70 billion Singapore dollars (55.44 billion U.S. dollars) in March 1997 to 215 billion Singapore dollars (170.3 billion U.S. dollars) in March this year.

Lim started his career in Neptune Orient Lines as a shipping pioneer.

"After a successful 10-year career with NOL, Mr Lim left in 1980 to contest in his first election, and became a Member of Parliament for Kebun Baru. He went on to win a total of seven elections before retiring from politics in mid-2011," Temasek introduced.

"He joined the National Trades Union Congress in 1981, and was elected as its Secretary-General in 1993, a position he held until he stood down in 2006. He remains the Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Labor Foundation, a position he has served since 1997," it added.

Lim was Speaker of Parliament from 1989 to 1991. He also served as ministers in the government.

Lim became a board member of Temasek on June 1, 2012. He was elected unanimously by the board of the company. The company said he is "familiar to a number of Temasek portfolio companies over his career in the private and public sectors".