A DARING share market gamble by tycoon Oei Hong Leong at the height of last week's meltdown could deliver as much as US$10 million to the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Mr Oei stepped in where others feared to tread and bought one million shares in beleaguered insurer AIG and immediately pledged the stock to the school.
It was then decided that cash would be easier to administer and he timed the deal perfectly again, selling the stock for US$5 million, at a 177 per cent gain.
If the school gets a matching grant from the Government, as is highly possible, this makes it a US$10 million windfall.
Mr Oei paid US$1.80 a piece for the shares on Tuesday last week when the stock was in freefall and before the US government launched its rescue plan.
The wily businessman took the investment plunge reckoning that AIG would not be allowed to go under. He told The Straits Times he would donate the shares to the school to mark Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's 85th birthday, which fell on Tuesday last week.
Hours after Mr Oei made his deal, the US government announced an US$85 billion bailout, which sent the shares up. They closed on Friday at US$3.85.
That would have made a US$3.85 million benefit for the school. Mr Oei met the institution over the weekend and promised that the gift would be near that level, which is about $5 million in local currency.
But on Monday, he managed to get even more, selling the shares for about US$5 - a gain of US$3.20 a share in under a week.
Mr Stavros Yiannouka, vice- dean for executive education and development at the LKY School, said: 'We are delighted and stand in admiration of Mr Oei's investment acumen.'
He said that the cash will go into an endowment fund where income generated will pay for scholarships for students from China.
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