TEMASEK Holdings Pte, Singapore's state-owned investment company, has raised its stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, adding to its interests in state-controlled lenders of the world's second-largest economy.

Temasek bought 126 million shares at an average price of HK$4.602 each, or a total of about HK$580 million (US$75 million), according to a Hong Kong stock exchange statement. That raised Temasek's holdings in the Hong Kong shares of ICBC to 8.07 percent from 7.92 percent. Temasek spokesman Stephen Forshaw confirmed the transaction.

Temasek bought 3.55 billion ICBC shares from Goldman Sachs Group Inc in April last year and then disclosed the purchase of a further 83.7 million shares in the Chinese lender the following month. It bought 280 million shares of the bank for HK$5.50 each last month, according to a May 21 filing.

Temasek has accumulated more than US$17 billion of holdings in Beijing-based ICBC, China Construction Bank and the Bank of China over the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.