Singapore - Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings is looking for ways to invite the public to co-invest, chief executive officer Ho Ching said Wednesday.

"Over the longer term, we are exploring the feasibility of creating one more group of stakeholders," she said at a forum organized by the Institute of Policy Studies think tank.

"We can do this by inviting the public to co-invest with Temasek," Ho said.

Temasek would first pilot such a programme with "sophisticated co-investors" and test it over the next five to eight years, she said.

"If this pilot is successful, we may then consider a co-investment platform for retail investors in perhaps eight to ten years' time," said Ho, noting that the plans "may become clearer over the next six to 12 months."

Ho, the wife of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said that by end of March, the value of Temasek's portfolio fell by about 40 billion Singapore dollars (27.75 billion US dollars) compared with a year ago.

"In our Temasek review last year, we reported an annual value at risk of almost 40 billion Singapore dollars last March," she said. "This meant a 16-per-cent probability for our portfolio value to drop more than 40 billion Singapore dollars by March this year. Indeed, it had turned out to be so, and more."

During the global financial crisis, Temasek's investments lost 31 per cent of their value from March 31 to November 30 last year with the size of its portfolio falling from 185 billion Singapore dollars to 127 billion Singapore dollars.

Ho Ching made her first public comments since Temasek said last week that it had rescinded the appointment of US businessman Charles Goodyear as her successor because of differences in strategy.

Goodyear was supposed to take over from Ho on October 1 and would have been Temasek's first foreign CEO.

The surprising move to scrap the plan was "unfortunate," Ho said.

"I just want to reaffirm that the decision was both mutual and amicable," she added.

Temasek said it would look both internally and externally for a new CEO. (dpa)