Temasek cuts losses in Chinese education stocks, trims Alibaba and Didi Global stakes after missteps, US filing shows

Name: Crackdown on private tutoring leaves industry, students and parents drawing a blank
Uploaded: 2021-11-16T02:38:29.000Z
Duration: 3 min 22 s
Description: Crackdown on private tutoring leaves industry, students and parents drawing a blank

Singapore investment firm exited from Kanzhun, TAL Education and New Oriental after stepping into a minefield just before sector crackdown

Firm also exited Baidu, and trimmed positions in Alibaba Group and Didi Global, according to SEC filing

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Temasek had 27 per cent of its assets invested in China, according to its March annual review, the single largest bet outside its Singapore base. Photo: AFP

Cheryl Heng

Published: 10:38am, 16 Nov 2021Updated: 4:36pm, 17 Nov 2021

Temasek Holdings cut its losses on Chinese education and technology stocks while trimming its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding and Didi Global in the third quarter, after walking into a regulatory minefield and a global sell-off.

The Singapore state investment arm sold all its American depositary shares in Kanzhun, TAL Education, New Oriental Education Technology, after building up positions in them in the second quarter, according to its 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Monday.

It also exited from Baidu, and reduced its holding in Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, and Didi Global, among the largest Chinese tech giants to suffer from China’s antitrust clampdown that eroded more than US$1 trillion in capitalisation across the US, Hong Kong and mainland markets.

These six ADRs tumbled by 9 per cent to 81 per cent in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg data. On average, Temasek may have realised about US$160 million of losses on them, according to the Post’s calculation based on the IPO and declines in those stocks during the quarter.

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Crackdown on private tutoring leaves industry, students and parents drawing a blank

“We do not comment on the specific activities around the holdings for our portfolio companies,” a Temasek spokesman said in an email reply to the Post on Tuesday. “As an active investor, it is usual for us to rebalance our portfolio from time to time.”

Temasek is holding off on new investment in Chinese technology companies for now due to uncertainty over Beijing‘s crackdown on the sector, Nikkei Asia reported on Monday, citing an interview with a top executive. The Chinese government wants to address issues like monopoly power of big tech platforms, data privacy, and income inequality.