Singapore
In the high-stakes landscape of equity investment, financial statements often tell only half the story. I specialize in uncovering the other half. With a multidisciplinary background spanning Law (NLU Jodhpur), Finance (SMU MBA), and Forensic Accounting (CFE), I offer a distinct edge in the ability to validate not just the numbers, but the commercial reality behind investment opportunities. Currently, I serve as a Senior Forensic Analyst at APS Asset Management, where I helped institutionalize the firm's proprietary "Sherlock Holmes Hat" function. In this capacity, I lead deep-dive due diligence to verify the authenticity of reported earnings and assess management credibility. My work directly supports high-conviction investment decisions by identifying value traps and hidden liabilities before capital is deployed. Beyond the numbers, I bring a macro-strategic view to investing. I have co-authored research on China-ASEAN supply chain shifts and the impact of trade geopolitics, demonstrating a clear understanding of the broader economic forces shaping returns in Asia.
• Institutionalized the "Sherlock Holmes" Investment Process: tasked with operationalizing the "Sherlock Holmes Hat" within the firm’s Four Alpha-Hats investment process. This function is critical in verifying that reported financial metrics align with on-ground business realities. • Deep-Dive Due Diligence: Lead forensic investigations into target companies to verify the quality of earnings and authenticity of financial statements, often identifying discrepancies that traditional analysis overlooks. • Develop and maintain AI-ESG tool: Developed the forensic framework for AI research platform actively shaping the organization's approach to standardizing and mitigating ESG risks. • Sector coverage: Cover companies across Hong Kong, ASEAN and Australia focusing on e-commerce, oil & gas, gaming and retail sectors. • Macro-Strategic Research: Co-authored high-level investment strategy papers (e.g., "Is China Winning the Trade War?"), analyzing supply chain shifts from China to ASEAN (Vietnam) and their implications for regional investment thesis.
• Financial Risk Management: Gained rigorous training in identifying financial irregularities and managing corporate risk for diverse clients. • Forensic Auditing: Executed complex forensic audits that required dissecting large datasets to pinpoint fraud and financial misstatements, developing the acute "eye for detail" required for investment due diligence. • Dispute advisory: Led fraud investigations and special audits to provide expert witness reports in dispute advisory projects, for private and public sector clients. • Risk avoidance: Performed risk and compliance assessments to ensure adherence to regional and international regulations and provided training sessions on fraud awareness and ethics for clients. Pro-actively, managed a whistle-blowing hotline service, overseeing staff, report writing, and risk management for clients.
• Completed a successful secondment with the Capital Markets group at Clifford Chance LLP, London. • Contributed to the prospectus preparation for a leading UK Bank's £5.8 billion rights issue. • Engaged in a project for an international association, coordinating legal opinions from local counsel across 83 jurisdictions related to the Basel III convention. • Conducted due diligence and disclosure exercises for banking, insurance, asset finance, and litigation departments. • Conducted research tasks for litigation, insurance, and capital markets groups, providing insights to top management. • Led an internal newsletter and intranet editorial team, driving effective communication initiatives. • Managed a 25-member team for a due diligence project involving a large bank.
• Research on indirect tax issues. • Research on various areas of corporate law. • Research on various aspects of employment clauses and validity of the same
• Research on service tax issues. • State VAT matters pertaining to liability and exemptions available to industries in various states. • Paper on “Activities taxable as an on-line information and database access or retrieval service”.