Singapore  - Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings said Thursday the net value of its portfolio climbed 32 per cent to 172 billion Singapore dollars (122 billion US dollars) from April to July, recouping much of its losses as markets recovered in the last months.

By end of March 2009, Temasek's portfolio value reached 130 billion Singapore dollars, down from the peak of 185 billion Singapore dollars a year ago.

"We believe that the worst of the global meltdown risks are behind us," said the company's chief executive officer (CEO) Ho Ching while presenting Temasek's annual review.

However, "the global economy is expected to have a sluggish recovery," she added, noting that some structural risks - like protectionism - still remained for the medium term.

The group's net profit plunged 66 per cent to 6 billion Singapore dollars, compared to 18 billion Singapore dollars posted for the fiscal year ending March 2008, the annual review said.

"We certainly did not anticipate the speed and the depth of last year's global financial crisis. Nor did we expect the crisis to originate from the US," said Ho, the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Temasek had the wrong assumption that the developed economies were well managed, she said.

"We were looking at the triggers in the wrong places," said Ho. "Today we are paying a lot of attention to what is being said and done in the US."

Temasek, which has an exposure to Asia of 40 per cent, remained optimistic about Asia's potential, but would also be adding investments to other growth regions like Latin America.

"We are comfortable to overweight Asia," said Ho, adding that Temasek had "the full flexibility to shift and move where we see the long-term trends are."

Temasek, of which the Singapore government through the finance minister is the sole shareholder, suffered hefty losses last year after investing in Western banks.

According to the annual review, the company fully divested its stakes in the Bank of America Corp and British lender Barclays plc.

But Temasek was still open to investing in financial institutions, Ho said.

"We have had the flexibility of going back into investments that we had exited, and we have done this in the past," she said.

Ho was supposed to be succeeded as CEO by US businessman Charles Goodyear on October 1.

But in a surprising move Temasek scrapped the plan to have Goodyear as its first foreign CEO in July, giving differences over strategy as a reason.

Ho, who had been Temasek's CEO since 2004, did not give any details on the ongoing search for a new CEO.

"We look at internal candidates and external candidates every year," she said. (dpa)