SINGAPORE, July 25 — Ho Ching, chief executive officer of Temasek Holdings Pte, is extending her sabbatical, the Singapore state- owned investment firm said in a statement on its website today.

“Ho Ching has taken the option of extending her part-time sabbatical leave to six months, and will complete her sabbatical in October 2015,” Temasek said. “She will continue with her board duties and specific stewardship duties.”

Ho, 62, began her sabbatical in April following the surgery in February of her husband, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Lee’s father, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s first prime minister, died on March 23.

“She may be on sabbatical on paper, but she still makes the big decisions and gets consulted,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private Banking in Singapore. “It shows she has confidence in the team that’s currently in place to run Temasek day-to-day when she’s on leave.”

Ho joined Temasek in 2002 as executive director and was appointed chief executive officer in 2004. She has overseen the firm’s transformation from a passive holder of stakes in government-controlled firms to an investor with more than two- thirds of underlying assets abroad.

In Ho’s absence, Lee Theng Kiat, a president at Temasek, will continue to cover “all normal course of business,” the firm said.

Temasek, which is owned by Singapore’s Ministry of Finance, earlier this month reported a total shareholder return of 19.2 per cent for the 12 months ended March 31, up from 1.5 per cent in the previous year, and an average 16 per cent a year since its inception in 1974. Its assets rose to a record S$266 billion (RM741 billion).

The investment firm had earlier sought a successor to Ho and hired former BHP Billiton Ltd. head Charles “Chip” Goodyear as CEO designate in early 2009. Within months, Temasek and Goodyear parted ways because of differences over strategy. — Bloomberg