Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings Thursday announced that its net portfolio rose 27 percent to 108 billion U.S. dollars for the financial year 2006, the first time crossing the 100 billion dollars mark.

But its net profits dipped 29 percent to 9 billion Singapore dollars (about 6 billion U.S. dollars) for the financial year ended March 31, compared to last year's 13 billion Singapore dollars (about 8.7 billion U.S. dollars), Temasek said in its latest annual financial review.

The smaller profit was partly due to lower divestment gains at the Temasek level from a much reduced level of divestments at 5 billion Singapore dollars, or down nearly two-thirds compared to 13 billion Singapore dollars of divestments a year earlier.

The second factor was an impairment charge taken for the investment in Thailand's Shin Corp, said Temasek.

The investment firm continued to deliver shareholder return of 27 percent by market value.

It also said that it made almost 16 billion Singapore dollars of new investments and monetized over 5 billion Singapore dollars of its portfolio, compared with 21 billion Singapore dollars of new investments and 13 billion Singapore dollars of divestments the year before.

"Transactions were much fewer during the year due to the group's view of market opportunities and preference to maintain the flexibility in cash," it said.

Temasek also said it would maintain its focus on Asia, while not neglecting opportunities in other OECD countries and elsewhere. Its exposure to Asia, except Singapore and Japan, rose to 40 percent compared to 34 percent the year before.

Since 2002, Temasek has been reshaping its portfolio significantly through greater focus on direct investment opportunities presented by Asia's fastest growing economies.

Last year, Temasek added new holdings in companies such as China's Country Garden, and China's solar energy equipment Yingli Green Energy. Temasek increased its stake in Standard Chartered Bank to 13 percent from market purchases, and raised its interest in STATS Chip PAC to 83 percent.