Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC), manager of more than $100 billion of the city's reserves, sold almost all of its 2 percent stake in Olympus Corp., the camera maker that said it hid losses with inflated fees.
GIC now only has an "insignificant holding" in Olympus under a portfolio managed by an external fund manager after the sale, the fund said in an emailed statement Saturday, without elaborating on the financial effect of the divestment or plans for its remaining shares.
"Ever since the story broke and the unraveling of the extent of the fraud and coverup of the company, there has always been increasing risk of the viability of the company," said Song Seng Wun, a Singapore-based economist at CIMB Research Pte. "Rather than take the risk, GIC's management may have decided to bite the bullet."