Monday 30 November 2009

DMG’s Gabriel Yap to take a break from stock broking

Well-known stock market personality Gabriel Yap is quitting the business - for a while at least - to travel and do charity work.

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DMG’s Gabriel Yap to take a break from stock broking

By VEN SREENIVASAN
30 November 2009

Well-known stock market personality Gabriel Yap is quitting the business - for a while at least - to travel and do charity work.

Mr. Yap, a dealing director at DMG & Partners, sent Christmas greetings to friends and business associates last week informing them of his decision to take a break from a business he has been a part of for 19 years.

‘I will be leaving DMG come January 2010,’ he said. ‘The Good Lord has been kind to me and I will be off to do some social work in the region for a short period before coming back to the financial markets. I will be taking the time off to immerse myself in the slums, understand and see how I can be of better help to the needy, poor and handicapped.’

An accountancy graduate who joined stockbroking in 1990, Mr. Yap is a well-known face in the industry, appearing frequently on TV and in the print media to give his views on the market, economy and stocks. He was tagged a ‘media analyst’ by some for his frequent appearances.

He has certainly done well for himself. He made his first million when he was 27 years old, and more millions in real estate in Singapore and Australia (where, among various investments, he bought carpark buildings in the central business districts in Melbourne and Adelaide).

He often invests in companies he recommends. Two stocks which he is still closely associated with are Midas Holdings and Raffles Education.

In an interview last year, he described himself as a value investor in the vein of Warren Buffet. ‘I buy the business, as opposed to the shares,’ he said. ‘You can make money buying good stocks at lousy prices or lousy stocks at good prices. Knowing management sufficiently to see whether they can be winners and deliver on earnings is crucial.’

Prior to joining DMG, Mr. Yap was with Tsang & Ong, Kim Eng Securities and Phillip Securities.

He denied he was quitting abruptly. ‘I have a three-year contract with DMG, which ends in January 2010. I am taking this opportunity to undertake what I have always wanted to do, like start a foundation to help the needy, poor and handicapped like what I did when I was president of the NTU Welfare Services Club while in university,’ he told BT.

This isn’t the first time Mr. Yap is taking leave from the industry. Six years ago, he quit local broking firm Kim Eng, and announced his intention to trek around the world.

‘I took a few months off to travel through northern China, the Gansu desert, and the old Silk Road to the India/Pakistan border,’ he said. ‘It was an adventure trip, though not as adventurous as (commodities investor) Jim Rogers, when he took two years off.’

He reappeared in Phillip Securities within a few months.