Temasek thought less likely to offload StanChart stake

Singapore investment company, Temasek, Standard Chartered's biggest shareholder, is uncomfortable with the London based lender's governance plan and is pushing for it to hire more independent directors, the Wall Street Journal reports today, citing an unidentified person.

However, that may not signal an increased desire on the part of Temasek to divest its holding in StanChart. Rather, the contrary seems to be true -in so far as it reflects an on-going dialogue- according to analysts cited by Bloomberg.

Backing that up, when Temasek withheld its vote at the annual shareholder meeting last May it wasn't being critical of the bank's strategy and leadership by declining to back the election of non-executive directors.

"Temasek have assured us that their abstention does not imply any criticism of the individuals concerned, nor Standard Chartered's performance or strategy," Doris Fan, a Hong Kong- based spokeswoman at Standard Chartered, said to Bloomberg in an e-mail.

The Financial Times reported on Sept. 25th that Temasek had talked to potential buyers of its 18% stake the bank "in recent months."

The report carried by the WSJ however also states that, "there were no discussions under way at the time."

AB