Germany's Lanxess in talks with GIC on stake-paper

FRANKFURT, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Chemicals company Lanxess (LXSG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) is in talks with Singapore's largest sovereign wealth fund about buying a stake in the German company, a German daily reported on Tuesday.

"I have spoken with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about the issue," Lanxess Chief Executive Axel Heitmann told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview to be published on Wednesday

Loong is the deputy chairman of Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), which invests Singapore's foreign exchange reserves.

His father Lee Kuan Yew is the chairman of GIC, which was set up in 1981 with assets of under S$10 billion ($7.12 billion).

Further talks between Lanxess and GIC management were scheduled, the paper reported.

Heitmann, who is travelling in Singapore, said he could "very well imagine" Asian state-owned funds with a strong reputation purchasing Lanxess shares.

"For me the quality of the fund is decisive," he continued adding: "The size of the individual stake is not a priority."

Heitman said Lanxess would also speak to Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] as soon as possible.

"If one of the two state-owned funds wants to buy a stake, it will have to purchase shares in the market," Heitmann said.

Temasek Holdings, headed by the prime minister's wife, Ho Ching, has an S$164 billion ($116.8 billion) portfolio. (Reporting by Nicola Leske; Editing by David Cowell)