Temasek Buys Ino Miner Freeport-McMoRan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore state investor Temasek [TEM.UL] has bought a stake in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) for nearly $32 million, according to a regulatory filing seen by Reuters.

The stake purchase is its latest investment in the resources sector in which it has poured more than $1 billion in the last two months.

Temasek bought 382,000 shares in the New York-listed Freeport, it said in a quarterly filing dated May 11 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The stake is now valued around $27 million based on Freeport’s last traded price of $69.72. Freeport is valued at $32.8 billion, according to Reuters data.

Temasek declined comment on its investment in Freeport.

Temasek, which had high exposure to banks at the start of the credit crisis, has been diversifying its portfolio with investments in miners and energy companies.

Last week, it agreed to buy $500 million worth of non-voting convertible preferred shares in Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N). It has an option to buy more shares with Chinese private equity firm Hopu.

The sovereign fund also bought securities worth C$500 million ($483 million) in Inmet Mining (IMN.TO) and $50 million in Platmin Ltd (PPN.TO) over the past two months.

In March, the Singapore investment firm said it wants to increase its exposure to mining in Mongolio and is looking for opportunities to invest in the mining sector in Africa.

($1=1.035 Canadian Dollar) (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Anshuman Daga)