The Fight for Straits Trading

Hugh Young, the high-profile managing director of Aberdeen Asset Management Asia, said Aberdeen had not sold its stake in takeover target Straits Trading but was reviewing recent bids for the commodities and property firm.

Young, who set up Aberdeen's Asian operation in Singapore in 1992, said Aberdeen would like to see "the maximum value realised" for its 2.5% stake in Straits Trading.

"Now whether that is the cash from either Tecity or the Lees, or a longer term restructuring and release of value, we are open minded," he said

Speaking in Aberdeen's Asian headquarters, a converted Singaporean shophouse decorated with Asian art and artefacts from Young's own collection, the fund executive said Aberdeen was considering trying to boost the performance of some funds by using conservative options strategies.

These could include writing options that would be triggered when the stocks hit the firm's target price, which would enable Aberdeen to earn a slightly higher return.

While regarded as one of the region's best long-term performers, Aberdeen stumbled in recent years as its conservative, research-intensive, low turnover strategy lagged its benchmark in three of the last four years.

But its portfolio of blue-chip Asian companies began to outperform again late last year as the region's multi-year bull run gave way to sharp falls.

Young, a tennis enthusiast who grew up in the London suburb of Wimbledon, likens the Aberdeen's investment style to the fabled tortoise that beat the hare over time. He said working through the stock market crash of 1987 had partly influenced his aversion to risky or overpriced companies.

"The fundamental thing of basic research and just checking whether a company is in a decent business, decently financed and run by honest people ultimately has not changed. We're unashamedly traditional," he said.

"We try not to worry about the markets and we certainly fully accept that there will be markets where we do appallingly."

Aberdeen's major bet at the moment is on Asian financial shares, which Young noted have largely avoided investment in the complex debt instruments that have hammered their Western peers.

Financial holdings include Singapore's United Overseas Bank and Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp, as well as property stocks and conglomerates like Hong Kong's Swire Pacific B.

"Typically the banking models in this part of the world are the banking models one remembers from one's youth. They take deposits and they make loans," he said.

"They're not betting their equity and more on exotic financial instruments ... you could say maybe they haven't been clever enough, they're just not up to speed with many of these things."

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MYOB thinks that the game is almost up for Straits Trading. Tecity continues to mop up small shareholding behind their offer price of $6.70. It is unlikely that they will succeed.

On the other hand, MYOB points out that when there is irrationality in the market, 'traditionalists' ala Warren Buffett tend to underperform the market. But like the fabled tortoise, slow and steady wins the race for practisioners of Graham. To paraphase Young, "We're unashamedly Graham".