Temasek gets nod to raise Merrill stake: report

(Reuters) - Singapore's Temasek Holdings TEM.UL has received U.S. antitrust approval to raise its stake in Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to as much as 14 percent, Bloomberg reported, without citing sources.

The sovereign wealth fund, Merrill's largest shareholder, has a 9.4 percent stake in the U.S. investment bank.

Temasek has invested about $5 billion in Merrill since Dec 24 after Chief Executive John Thain, 53, replaced Stan O'Neal, who was ousted following the firm's biggest quarterly loss in its 93-year history.

Merrill's writedowns are about 10 percent of the total credit losses incurred by banks in the subprime meltdown, the news agency said.

A Merrill spokesman in Asia declined to comment.

Temasek, wholly owned by Singapore's finance ministry, has been increasing investments in global financial services companies to take advantage of a stock market slump that erased about $10 trillion in market value in the past year.

Temasek is also the biggest shareholder of London-based Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd (DBSM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bangalore; editing by Sue Thomas)