Singapore's Indian-origin investment guru Narayana Iyer Narayanan dies

Singapore‘s investment guru Narayana Iyer Narayanan, who represented the interests of minority stakeholders in major corporations, has passed away.

He was 95.

Narayanan, who had a deep knowledge of the stock and share market dating back to the 1960s, died after suffering a heart attack on June 23, reported The Straits Times.

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Even at 95, dad was still very keen on financial news. He would check the Dow Jones index, the stock price of Sats, the British pound and Malaysian ringgit daily, the broadsheet quoted his daughter Rema as saying.

Her sister Radhika added, “He was a champion of small shareholders. He believed they have the right to understand what is happening in companies they invested in.”

Armed with a degree in mathematics, Narayanan started his career as a stockbroker in the 1950s. In 1968, he became the first Indian director of a stockbroker, Ong & Co. Later, he joined Alliance Securities as a director. He retired in 1999 at the age of 72.

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The active retail investor was often seen at AGMs and extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) of major Singapore banks and companies such as soft drink manufacturer and property group Frasers & Neave (F&N) and telco Singtel.

He would take the rare meetings to grill management on their strategic decisions as well as costs and expenses that would impact shareholders. He questioned issues related to corporate governance even before it became a key investment screening tool.

Narayanan often held court with a group of journalists after corporate meetings, summing up the key issues brought up to management, their responses and minority shareholders’ concerns.

He was also a frequent letter writer to the press on wide-ranging matters from capital restructuring, odd share lots and regulatory issues to collective property sales and appointments and remuneration of directors.

R Sivanithy, a former Business Times journalist, recalled, Although I met him only once, we spoke over the phone dozens of times. He would ring me with story ideas or whenever he saw something occurring in the market that needed addressing.

He had vast institutional knowledge that stretched back to the 1960s so he could always place things in their proper historical perspective. He will be remembered for always championing the interests of small shareholders. He will be missed, Sivanithy added.

(With agency inputs)