Value Investing in Asia

An Interview with Yeo Seng Chong of Yeoman Capital Management

If we get the “3-Rights” right, time is our friend

— Yeo Seng Chong

In March 2015, we went down to the office of Yeoman Capital Management to meet with its Executive Chairman and Founder, Mr Yeo Seng Chong.

Yeoman Capital Management is a Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) in Singapore. Mr Yeo is a pioneer in the fund management industry in Singapore, having founded the company together with his wife, Mdm Lim, in 1999. Since 2005, the company has been running the flagship Yeoman 3-Rights Value Asia Fund, an Asia-Ex-Japan fund, since January 2005.

Mr Yeo had a wide range of experience before starting his fund in 1999. He had professional experience in both the public and private sector with listed firms like Centrepoint Properties Limited, Metro Holdings Limited and Singapore Technologies Industrial Corp (now part of SembCorp Industries Limited).

Mr Yeo frequently shares his investment wisdom through news and digital media such as The Business Times, The Sunday Times and The Manual of Ideas. We spent the afternoon with Mr Yeo to better understand his approach.

Investment Philosophy and Strategy

According to Yeoman Capital, since 1999, the collective funds have returned 12.74% per annum (net of all fees) to its investors for the 19 years and 2 months period up to Q4 2016. That far exceeded the performance of its benchmark, MSCI Far East Ex. Japan (MSEL CFFX), which returned 3.84% per annum over the same ...