Temasek takes 5.5 percent stake in Ivanhoe Mines

By Saeed Azhar

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings TEM.UL has taken a 5.5 percent stake in Canada's Ivanhoe Mines IVN.TOIVN.N valued at $426 million, increasing its bet on resources firms.

Temasek owned 40.855 million shares of the Vancouver-based firm, the Singapore investor said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8.

A source familiar with the deal said Temasek had a small stake in Ivanhoe, which is controlled by mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote)(RIO.AX: Quote), but has increased its holding through market purchases.

A Temasek spokesman confirmed the filing but did not provide details.

Ivanhoe last month launched a rights offering to raise $1.8 billion as part of a comprehensive financing plan to continue development of its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia.

Temasek, which has about 36 percent of its assets in financials, has been slowly increasing its investments in resources firms. In April it bought shares of PetroChina Co's unit Kunlun Energy Co Ltd.

Sovereign investors, hurt by investments in Western banks during the 2008 financial crisis, have moved away from financial services into sectors such as commodities and infrastructure.

Earlier this year, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, bought a 5 percent stake in commodities trader Bunge Ltd (BG.N: Quote) worth around $500 million.