Who is Singapore\'s Berkshire Hathaway?

A few friends were having this discussion over some drinks. One of them commented that he is sick of hearing the hind-side advices from these financial advisors as well as analysts who switched recommendations and cut their target prices according to their whims.

He asked, \"So what is Singapore\'s Berkshire Hathaway? Where is this Company that I can buy and not have sleepless nights.\" I thought it might be interesting to bring this topic up for discussion? To be honest, there are not many true-blue entrepreneurs in Singapore. Most of them are GLC-run companies. Some have zero growth while some are run decently.

I like to cast my vote for Mr Wee Cho Yaw, the Chairman of UOB Bank. I was doing some reading and I must admit that this man has created a lot of values for the shareholders since he took over from his dad.

At $13.02, the Company has a market capitalisation of S$19.8 billion and is the largest bank in Singapore by market capitalisation. UOB has a strong focus on the credit card and SME markets.

The announced long-term targets, to be achieved by 2010, are that 40% of profits come from outside Singapore, non-interest income accounts for half of revenues, and that it generates a 20% cash ROE.

Beyond its historically strong Malaysian franchise, its regional expansion has centred on Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. It has merged its two Thai acquisitions, Bank of Asia and Radanasin Bank, to create UOB (Thai), and has acquired Bank Buana in Indonesia. Credit to the management -- UOB has the lowest exposure among Singapore banks to the CDO problems.