( dpa )- Singapore's investment arm Temasek Holdings has raised its stake in Standard Chartered Bank to more than 19 per cent, maintaining that it sees value in the bank amid the current depressed stock markets, a published report said Wednesday.
"We invest where we see value and have capitalized on current market opportunities to increase our shareholding in a strong financial services player," executive director Simon Israel said in a statement.
Regulatory figures show that the investment company has raised its stake by 1 percentage point to 19 per cent in British-registered Stanchart , which focuses on emerging markets, The Business Times said.
Temasek , which has been injecting capital into ailing Western banks hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, now holds 268.2 million Stanchart shares.
A Stanchart spokeswoman told the newspaper that Stanchart is different from other banks because it has no direct exposure to US collateralized subprime debt obligations.
Temasek became the bank's single-largest shareholder after buying an 11.6-per-cent stake in March 2006 from the estate of late Singapore hotelier Khoo Teck Puat .
The latest increase is fuelling speculation about a possible takeover or merger between Stanchart and the DBS Group.
DBS, South-East Asia's largest lender, is in Temasek's stable, with the investment company owning 28 per cent of the bank.