SMU Professor of Finance Melvyn Teo, who has observed Temasek's strategy closely over the years, said that the sovereign wealth fund is "allocating capital in smaller chunks to these publicly listed firms, so that they are no longer a significant stakeholder in the company". "Temasek is somewhat unique... because if it's too directly involved in a company, there can be worries among outsiders that potentially it is exerting some political influence," said Prof Teo. He was commenting on Temasek's move to cut stakes in big publicly listed companies as it puts more money into growing private companies and private equity firms in search of better returns.