'Temasek is not a sovereign wealth fund,' its spokesman Mark Lee said in a telephone interview yesterday. 'Temasek has to sell assets to raise cash for new investments and doesn't require the government to give approvals.'

An agreement by government-run funds of Abu Dhabi and Singapore to increase transparency will not shed more light on Temasek's US$118 billion (S$163.8 billion) portfolio, as the company said it already meets disclosure guidelines.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday that funds, including the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), agreed to adopt rules for greater disclosure. Temasek said it already provides more information than government-run funds.

The US is pushing sovereign wealth funds to adopt new disclosure rules because of concern that a lack of transparency could spark a rise in protectionism.

The European Commission has called for an international accord to limit the political influence of state- owned capital pools, which have grown in number to about 40, managing between US$2 trillion and US$3 trillion.

Singapore's GIC and counterparts in China, Russia and Dubai have deployed record central bank reserves of as much as US$2.9 trillion, buying stakes in US financial services companies.

GIC has invested in UBS and Citigroup in the past three months, as banks sought to replenish capital after the value of their US sub-prime mortgage-related assets plummeted.

In January, Temasek paid US$6.2 billion for a 9.4 per cent stake in Merrill Lynch, after the largest US brokerage had the biggest loss in its 93-year history because of write-downs on US sub-prime mortgages and related securities.

BLOOMBERG NEWS