Firm believer in longer-term investments

Singapore

WHEN it comes to investing serious money in a venture that catches his eye, Saurabh Mittal isn't the sort of businessman who's out to make a quick buck.

Far from it, in fact. The founder and chairman of Mission Holdings, his private global investment vehicle, much prefers to make longer term bets - at least five years and typically longer than 10 - that he feels will reap greater rewards down the road. "Fundamentally, businesses produce large multiples on capital only over the long term," the Singapore permanent resident tells The Business Times in an exclusive interview at the St Regis Hotel.

"If I think I'm going to be selling a particular business in the next five years, then I don't think I should even be investing in it in the first place. To me, patience is key. Patience is by far the most difficult and most important virtue in investing."

The 43-year-old, who is also the chief operating officer at Singapore-headquartered Mission Holdings, is described as a "self-made billionaire entrepreneur and investor" on the company's official website.

He was a co-founder of Indiabulls, India's leading financial services and real estate conglomerate. He was also a senior partner at Noonday, an affiliate of San Francisco-based Farallon Capital Management, one of the world's largest hedge funds.

The Harvard Business School and Indian Institute of Technology graduate prefers not to disclose the size of his overall investment portfolio when asked, except to say that the entire capital at Mission Holdings is his own. "We take bets on anything. We can go as small as US$5 million or US$10 million, or play as large as US$150 million to US$200 million. It's the whole gamut, and we take on many of these investments of different amounts," he says.

Founded in 2014, Mission Holdings is typically the largest shareholder of its core portfolio companies, and the preference is to hold an active role or seat on the board of directors as well. Mr Mittal says this investment strategy and approach enables it to operate as a "true partner" across all issues of scaling and operating the business.

His primary focus are companies in the financial services, media, real estate and technology sectors. Among the big names that Mission has invested in to date are Singapore-based One Championship, Incedo, BSI Financial and SelfScore.

One Championship is Asia's largest sports media property and is gearing up for a billion-dollar public listing, while Incedo is a US$100 million data and analytics company with 2,000 staff on its payroll.

BSI is a fintech player in the multi-trillion dollar mortgage industry, and SelfScore is another fintech firm that's based in Silicon Valley.

Mr Mittal speaks highly in particular of One Championship, a mixed martial arts promoter founded in 2011 that is also backed by Heliconia Capital Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore's state investment firm Temasek Holdings.

One Championship staged the first of its two Singapore shows in 2017 on Friday, with Angela Lee - a 20-year-old champion of Singaporean and Korean descent - featuring in the main event against Brazil's Istela Nunes in front of 12,000 fans at the Indoor Stadium. "I back great, world-class entrepreneurs, and (One Championship founder) Chatri (Sityodtong) is one of them," says Mr Mittal.

"As a partner, I don't think we could be any happier. And we've only just scratched the surface. I look at One Championship and say, wow, how large an opportunity you guys still have. You can grow 20 to 30 times your current size and still have more opportunities ahead. That's how I see them progressing."

There are those in Asia's investment circles who often refer to Mr Mittal as the Asian equivalent of Warren Buffett, the 86-year-old American business magnate and one of the most successful investors of all time.

During the recent 45-minute interview with BT, Mr Mittal describes Mr Buffett as a "great sage" whom he has looked up to for years and continues to learn from all the time.

He reveals that he modelled Mission Holdings after Berkshire Hathaway, the US multinational conglomerate owned by Mr Buffett.

Mr Mittal adds: "We don't have a fund cycle, and we don't have a time horizon for any of our investments. We think of investing as a long-term value-compounding objective. The main difference between us and Berkshire Hathaway, other than the size, of course, is that we are not listed." Even though Mr Mittal is constantly on the move and travels frequently around the world for work, he makes it a point to give back to society as much as he can. Days before this interview, he was in New Delhi where he presented a cheque for 100 million rupees (S$2.14 million) towards the construction of a sports complex on the Indian Institute of Technology campus. The facility which will be named the "Mittal Sports Complex" is likely to be completed by 2018.

Mr Mittal, a father of three young children, also supports

Paarivar (meaning "family" in Hindi), a leading charitable organisation that runs India's largest residential school for destitute children.

Asked if he feels more pressure on his shoulders to give back to society given his overwhelming success in the corporate world, he says: "It is a responsibility that every sensible businessperson should feel and have. We are where we are not just because we worked hard, and we took the chances that came our way, but we have been blessed."

"Luck plays an important, indeterminable role. When anyone says that luck is not part of his or her success, that person is lying. At the same time, luck is also a function of hard work and risk-taking. If you have that luck and blessing in your life, it's your duty to share it with others. In my view, it's both a pleasure and an obligation to do so."