Former The Star journalist Cheah makes it big in hedge fund management

PETALING JAYA: He is one of Asia's most influential men in hedge funds but former journalist turned maverick investor Cheah Cheng Hye (pic) has not forgotten his humble roots.

As a 12-year-old, he sold pineapples at a wholesale market in George Town after school, worked at a hawker stall and gave tuition to younger children to help support his siblings after his father died.

Today, Cheah runs Hong Kong's largest investment powerhouse, managing US$9bil (RM28.7bil) worth of funds from investors worldwide. Last year, he became the first Asian to be invited to speak at the prestigious Graham and Dodd Breakfast event at Columbia University in New York.

The Penang-born businessman, who has been dubbed the Warren Buffett of the East, attributed part of his success to being “at the right place at the right time” and the other part, to his strong will to succeed due to his poor childhood.

Cheah, 57, said life was hard in his younger days.

“We never felt sorry for ourselves. We never expected the Government or anyone to help us. We accepted that the only way to improve was through self-help and luck,” he said in an e-mail interview from Hong Kong.

Despite excelling in his studies, the former Penang Free School student knew he could not afford to further his studies after Form Five.

So, he headed to The Star office in Weld Quay and landed a job folding newspapers.

“We started work at 11pm and finished at 5am. Fortunately, after three weeks, I was recruited as a reporter,” he said, adding that he became a sub-editor and editorial writer within two years.

Cheah quit in 1974 and left for Hong Kong after receiving an offer from the Hong Kong Standard. He quickly adapted to his new environment and went on to become a financial journalist with the Asian Wall Street Journal and later, the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Cheah subsequently joined an investment company and in 1993, co-founded Value Partners Limited with his business partner Yeh V-nee, a Columbia University graduate.

The father of two said he would always appreciate Hong Kong for giving him numerous opportunities but admitted to feeling homesick for Malaysia. “I miss the good-natured people and the food.”

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