Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte was among investors that helped U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc. raise $300 million last year, according to people familiar with the matter.
While Coinbase said it garnered investment in its October funding round from firms including Tiger Global Management, Wellington Management and Andreessen Horowitz, GIC’s participation hasn’t previously been disclosed. GIC declined to comment, while an official for Coinbase also declined to comment.
With the foray into digital assets, possibly its first, GIC joins a select group of large sophisticated investors including Yale University willing to dip their toes into the crypto industry. Most institutional money managers have shunned digital assets because they’re largely unregulated and have been used to finance illicit trade.
GIC has more than $100 billion of assets in over 40 countries and has investments in everything from government bonds to private equity.
Coinbase’s October funding round gave it a valuation of $8 billion, placing it among the ranks of the world’s most-valuable startups. That’s all the more impressive given the collapse in crypto prices last year.
According to documents seen by Bloomberg late last year, the firm was forecasting revenue for 2018 of almost $1.3 billion, a figure that largely comes from the commissions on trades on its platform, as well as gains and losses in its own crypto holdings.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-28/singapore-wealth-fund-said-to-invest-in-crypto-exchange-coinbase
Not just GIC, Temasek also was very hush hush about the investment in Salt Bae.
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2018/07/25/barely-4-months-after-temasek-invested-millions-in-turkish-restaurant-chain-its-parent-conglomerate-is-facing-severe-debt-restructuring-woes/
Barely 4 months after Temasek invested millions in Turkish restaurant chain, its parent conglomerate is facing severe debt restructuring woes
Earlier in April, it was reported that Temasek Holdings – together with Britain’s Metric Capital – had invested $200 million for a 17% stake in Turkey’s Dogus Restaurant Entertainment and Management (D.ream).
The D.ream group had 42 restaurants under its name, most notable was the Nusr-Et steakhouse. The steakhouse gained online attention after chef Nusret Gokce (better known as “Salt Bae”) posted videos of himself salting meat in a unique cobra-like manoeuver.
Despite having more than 12 million followers on Instagram, his social media success did not bode well for the quality of his food. The extent to which his food critics was so harsh that even TIME magazine wrote an article about it.
Steve Cuozzo from the New York Post even went to the extent of calling it “Public Rip-off No. 1” given the exorbitant prices for a “shoe-leather-tough bone-in ribeye, which, for extra fun, was loaded with gruesome globs of fat”.
Agreeing, Eater magazines’ Robert Sietsema said that the steak was “rubbery and low on flavor” and said that he and his companion went home hungry even though they had spent $320 (S$435) on the bill.
The D.ream group of restaurants is owned by Turkey’s Dogus conglomerate, which has diverse businesses interests in industries spanning construction to tourism to real estate to energy to automobiles.
Nasdaq reported earlier this month (9 Jul) that Dogus is facing disagreements with its creditors over how $2 billion Euros (S$3.19 billion) of its maturing loans should be paid.
Even though their 2017 sales rose 16% to 20.4 billion lira (S$5.69 billion), they reported a loss of 2.3 billion lira (S$0.64 billion) after a 2 billion lira (S$0.56 billion) loss in 2016.
Besides the losses, the balance sheet also does not look pretty. The $2 billion represents only half of the conglomerate’s debt woes; Its combined outstanding loans stood at 23.5 billion lira (S$6.55 billion) at the end 2017, an increase of 11% as compared to the year before.
According to unnamed sources by Reuters, the talks were being led by lenders Yapi Kredi and Isbank. However, rival Akbank – Turkey’s third-largest listed bank by assets – wants the debt to be collected as soon as possible.
“There is a disagreement over the maturity. Akbank does not agree with the loan maturity offered by Yapi Kredi and Isbank” said another unnamed source to Reuters.
The Dogus conglomerate is not the only large Turkish business to face debt problems.
The lira has fallen 16% this year, causing business difficulties in paying off foreign-currency debt as the repayment becomes more expensive. It is estimated that Turkish firms have as much as $225 billion in long-term overseas loans as of April.
Conglomerate Gama Holding is in talks to sell some of its assets as part of a $1 billion (S$1.36 billion) debt restructuring while Yildiz Holding, owner of global food brands such as Godiva chocolate, signed a deal with its banks to refinance $5.5 billion (S$7.5 billion) in debt in May.
In the eyes of the Pimps And Adulterers, its probably FUCK transparency, hail cronyism.
Let's see if the newly appointed Auditor-General will audit GIC.........