Cheah Cheng Hye
WATCHValue Partners Group
Self-made 'Warren Buffett of Asia' with a 30+ year value investing track record in Greater China, but recent decade of underperformance reflects China's structural challenges, and no AGI awareness reduces relevance.
Asian Value Investors
Score Breakdown
Investment Philosophy & Portfolio Style
Philosophy
Cheah is a classic bottom-up value investor with deep roots in Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett's teachings, adapted for Asian markets. His core tenets: (1) Bottom-up fundamental research — Value Partners has over 40 investment professionals focused on Greater China and Asia, doing on-the-ground company visits and proprietary research; (2) Buy undervalued companies trading below intrinsic value with catalysts for value realization; (3) Long-term orientation — he aims to hold good companies through cycles rather than trade around them; (4) Margin of safety — seeks significant discounts to estimated intrinsic value; (5) Quality matters — increasingly shifted toward higher quality companies over the decades rather than pure deep value; (6) Focus on Greater China and Asia where informational advantages exist; (7) Contrarian willingness — buys when markets are panicking, particularly in China/Hong Kong where sentiment swings are extreme; (8) Discipline over conviction — maintains strict sell rules when valuations reach fair value. Cheah has emphasized that his journalism background gave him the ability to ask tough questions and see through management spin.
Portfolio Style
Value Partners runs multiple strategies but the flagship is the Value Partners Classic Fund, launched in 1993. Portfolio characteristics: typically holds 40-80 positions with meaningful concentration in top holdings; predominantly Greater China equities (Hong Kong, mainland China H-shares and A-shares) with selective exposure across Asia Pacific; mix of large-cap and mid-cap names; sector focus has historically included financials, consumer, industrials, and technology; turnover is moderate — core positions are held for years but the portfolio is actively managed around valuations. The firm has expanded into fixed income, multi-asset, quantitative, and alternatives over the years, but equities remain the core. Cheah invests a significant portion of his personal wealth alongside clients. The Classic Fund is long-only with no leverage or shorting, which aligns with our approach.
Background
Cheah Cheng Hye (born 1954 in Penang, Malaysia) is one of Asia's most prominent value investors, sometimes called the 'Warren Buffett of Asia.' His story is one of the great rags-to-riches tales in Asian finance. He grew up in modest circumstances, never attended university, and started his career as a journalist at the Asian Wall Street Journal and Far Eastern Economic Review in the 1970s-80s. His journalism gave him deep exposure to Asian business and finance. He transitioned into fund management, working at Morgan Grenfell (later Deutsche Asset Management) in Hong Kong, where he managed Asian equity funds. In 1993, he co-founded Value Partners with V-Nee Yeh, starting with roughly US$5.5 million in assets. He built it into one of Asia's largest independent asset management firms, now managing US$6.2 billion (as of December 2025). Value Partners was the first asset management firm listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code 806.HK) in 2007. Cheah serves as co-chairman and co-chief investment officer. He has won over 280 industry awards. He is a Malaysian Chinese who made his fortune entirely through investing skill rather than inheritance or connections — a genuinely self-made billionaire.
Track Record
The Value Partners Classic Fund has one of the longest track records among Asian-focused funds, with over 30 years of performance history since 1993. Early performance was exceptional — the fund reportedly compounded at approximately 22% annualized in its first decade, massively outperforming the Hang Seng Index. However, the more recent record (2010s-2020s) has been much weaker. China and Hong Kong markets have significantly underperformed global markets, particularly US equities, during this period. The fund suffered during the 2015 China crash, the 2018 trade war, the COVID period, and especially the 2021-2023 China tech/property regulatory crackdown. Value Partners Group's AUM declined from a peak of roughly US$17 billion (around 2015) to US$6.2 billion by end of 2025 — a significant decline reflecting both market losses and client redemptions. The stock price of Value Partners Group (806.HK) has been a poor performer. Overall: an exceptional first-half record (1993-2010s) significantly tarnished by a weak second half, largely reflecting the structural underperformance of Chinese equities. The question is whether this represents a genuine loss of edge or simply reflects choosing to stay concentrated in an asset class that has been deeply out of favor.
Notable Holdings
Value Partners' holdings have historically focused on Greater China. The Classic Fund has held significant positions in major Chinese/HK companies including: China Mobile, Tencent, AIA Group, China Construction Bank, Ping An Insurance, CNOOC, various Hong Kong property developers and conglomerates. More recently, the firm has been positioned in areas they see as undervalued within China: state-owned enterprise reform beneficiaries, Chinese consumer companies, select technology names that survived the regulatory crackdown, and dividend-yielding Chinese financials. The firm has also selectively invested in other Asian markets (Japan, India, Southeast Asia) though China/HK remains the core. Specific current holdings are harder to track than US-based managers due to different disclosure regimes.
Transparency & Integrity
Transparency(Score: 7/10)
Good transparency by Asian fund management standards. Value Partners is a publicly listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so its financial results, AUM, and corporate governance are subject to regulatory scrutiny and public disclosure. The firm publishes regular market commentaries, investment letters, and fund factsheets. Cheah has given numerous interviews and speeches articulating his investment philosophy. However, position-level disclosure is less granular than US 13F requirements — specific holdings are reported periodically but not with the same frequency or detail as US-based managers. The firm's annual reports provide meaningful insight into strategy and performance. Cheah has been relatively candid about the challenges of investing in China during the recent difficult period.
Integrity(Score: 8/10)
High integrity. Cheah's personal story — from a poor Malaysian Chinese family with no university education to building a multi-billion dollar asset management firm — speaks to genuine talent and hard work rather than connections or privilege. He invests alongside clients with substantial personal capital in Value Partners funds. No major scandals or ethical controversies have been associated with him or the firm. He has been consistent in his investment approach over three decades rather than chasing trends. Value Partners' fee structure is standard institutional (management fee plus performance fee on some products). His continued commitment to China/Asia investing through a very difficult period, rather than pivoting to where performance was easier, suggests conviction over opportunism. He is widely respected in the Asian investment community. The main concern would be the declining AUM and whether fee revenue from a shrinking base creates pressure on the business, but this is a business risk rather than an integrity issue.
Relevance to Us
Moderate relevance. Cheah's core philosophy — bottom-up value investing, margin of safety, long-term orientation, concentration — has meaningful overlap with our approach. His emphasis on downside protection and intrinsic value aligns with our floor price methodology. His willingness to invest when sentiment is worst is a quality we admire. However, several factors limit relevance: (1) His portfolio is China/Asia focused, which is a different universe from our current focus; (2) The recent weak performance (2015-2025) raises questions about whether deep value in China can generate returns in a market with structural governance and political risks; (3) Value Partners has grown into a large institutional firm ($6.2B AUM) with diversified products — less of a concentrated conviction investor and more of an asset management business; (4) No evidence of thinking about AGI as a transformative force; (5) His portfolio is more diversified (40-80 positions) than our extremely concentrated approach. Cheah is worth watching for his perspective on when Chinese assets become genuinely cheap enough to buy with a margin of safety, but his current investment universe and style are somewhat removed from our needs.