When V-Nee Yeh, chairman of the Hong Kong-based, $660 million distressed-focused shop Argyle Street Management, launched the firm in 2002, he knew that distressed asset management, in its classic sense, did not exist in Asia. This stemmed from the difference in capital structure complexity of companies and regulatory regimes between developed and undeveloped markets, something that has not really changed even almost a decade later.
In the Asian landscape dominated by family-controlled companies, deep relationships and focus on distressed vendors rather than on distressed assets is what provides the edge in terms of real investment opportunities—something Yeh and his partners sensed early on, and used as the basis to build their business as well as a rather unique model of distressed investing in Asia.
"I believe [that] in ASM I have found the Value Partners of Asian distressed assets. It is akin to an Asian ex-Japan distressed asset/special opportunities...