Singapore’s Temasek reduces FTX investment personnel salaries. On Monday, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (TEM.UL) reduced compensation for its senior management and the team that recommended its investment in the now-bankrupt FTX bitcoin exchange.
Six months after an internal examination of its FTX investment resulted in a $275 million write-down, Temasek made the move.
“Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Temasek Chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a Monday statement on the company’s website.
Temasek did not specify compensation cuts.
Temasek had no direct exposure to cryptocurrencies and said its cost of investing in FTX was 0.09% of its net portfolio value of S$403 billion ($304 billion) as of March 31, 2022.
FTX’s audited financial statement “showed it to be profitable” after Temasek’s “extensive due diligence” last year.
After Sam Bankman Fried’s FTX filed for bankruptcy last year, SoftBank Group Corp.’s (9984.T) Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital marked down their investments to zero.
“With FTX, as alleged by prosecutors and as admitted by key executives at FTX and its affiliates, there was fraudulent conduct intentionally hidden from investors, including Temasek,” Lim said on Monday. “However, we are disappointed with our investment and its reputational damage.”
Lim said Temasek invests in early-stage enterprises for long-term returns.
“While there are inherent risks whenever we invest, we believe that we have to invest in new sectors and emerging technologies to understand how these areas may impact the business and financial models of our existing portfolio and whether they would be drivers of future value in an ever-changing world,” Lim said.
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