Cheah Cheng Hye's one-time hobby fund now manages US$5.7b
Cheah Cheng Hye had been a veteran financial journalist at such publications as the Asian Wall Street Journal and Asiaweek when he set up fund management firm Value Partners in 1993. He never thought it would become more than a diversion for him and a small circle of friends.
Fast forward to November this year: Value Partners goes public in a US$376 million initial public offering in Hong Kong that sees investors clamouring for more than 300 times the number of shares available.
It also attracted Ping An Insurance (Group), the mainland's second-largest insurance company, which took a 9 per cent stake in the firm. Value Partners has increased its assets under management 10 times since its launch to US$5.7 billion.
The company has also proved a winner with its employees. Only one fund manager has been poached by a rival and he was back at Value Partners a year later, according to Mr Cheah, who plays chess and poker to hone his strategic thinking skills.
From the start, the firm has focused on undervalued small- to mid-capitalised stocks which have strong growth potential. It has an average annualised return of 22.8 per cent.
The company branched out earlier this year when it invested US$30 million in start-up budget airline Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, which flies between London and Vancouver.
