NSE2ZOOM: Here's a look at Dalal Street's not-so famous top investors

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Here's a look at Dalal Street's not-so famous top investors

Here's a look at Dalal Street's not-so famous top investors
They are some of the biggest investors in the stock market, with an uncanny ability to pick the right scrips. Their preferences are cues for not just ordinary investors but also prominent fund houses. Shailesh Menon profiles a bunch of investors who despite the tremendous influence they wield on the market are not thrilled with the limelight.

Bull markets create heroes and zeroes: Ashish Kacholia

Age: Mid-40s

Comfort zone: Mid- & small-cap stocks

Winning stocks: Pokarna Granites, Vadilal, Axiscades Engineering, Acrysil, and Shaily Engineering Plastics

When Ashish bhaiya (as children call him) visited the Samaritan Mission School at Tikiapara near Howrah in West Bengal 13 years ago, it was a 350 sq ft room with three windows and some 25 students — mostly children of rickshaw-pullers, housemaids and drug addicts.

"Bhaiya's eyes welled up when he saw our kids sitting on the damp cemented floor," recalls Mamoon Akhtar of Samaritan Help Mission, which runs the school. While departing, Ashish bhaiya handed the first of his numerous cheques favouring the Samaritan Mission.

Today, the school imparts digitised education to over 3,000 students, boasts a playground and a vocational training lab, all thanks to the generosity of Ashish bhaiya and his rich friends from Mumbai. Little do these kids know that their bhaiya is one of the most influential investors on Dalal Street.

Every morning before the market opens, a raft of WhatsApp stock tips/messages that float around lists trades done by Kacholia the previous day. Stock market blogs typically mention Kacholia's portfolio every quarter. Dealers and stock-pitchers sell investment ideas to potential investors saying, "Kacholia ne entry maara hai." His fan following is such that stock market enthusiasts have started comparing Kacholia to the likes of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and RK Damani, the high-profile investors of Dalal Street.

Kacholia started his career with Prime Securities and later moved to the Edelweiss' equity research desk. After learning the ropes, he started his own broking outfit — Lucky Securities. He accepted mandates from investors, and in a short time, was making money for them. But then if you know how to make money, why would you do it for someone else? From 2003, Kacholia started focusing on building his own portfolio.

As is his wont, Kacholia did not invest in tried and tested large-cap stocks. He pushed himself to find new investment ideas in the mid- and smallcap space. This strategy paid off as companies such as Pokarna Granites, Vadilal, Camlin, Axiscades Engineering, Acrysil, Lokesh Machines, Zen Technologies, Shaily Engineering Plastics and Ashiana Housing turned multi-baggers (record gainers in stock market parlance) in his portfolio. Kacholia holds investments of nearly Rs 350 crore in companies where he has more than 1 per cent shareholding. "Ashish does a lot of research before investing. He's a risk-taker; he buys shares in chunks if he's convinced. He meets the management if his investment is large," says a broker who executes trades for him.

Kacholia believes in testing the strength of his portfolio. So if the overall market momentum is weak, he dumps a portion of his holding to check for price resistance patterns. If the stock manages ride out even during an "engineered selloff", he increases his holding. Kacholia does not hold more than 25-30 stocks in his portfolio at any given time. His price target is usually 1.5-2 times the buying price. That said, if company fundamentals turn negative mid-way to target, he dumps the stock dispassionately.

Kacholia leads a simple lifestyle. He also stays away from the spotlight. "I am a private person. Bull markets create heroes and bear markets create zeroes. So, I'd rather stay anonymous," was Kacholia's response to ET's request for a meeting

Mukul Agrawal: Aggressive but does not put principal at risk

Age: Mid-40s

Comfort zone: Aggressive trading, long-term investments, large bets

Winning stocks: Bharat Bijlee, Hindustan Dorr-Oliver, Honda Siel Power

Mukul Agrawal is the newest kid to break into the rich club on Dalal Street.

"Mukul smells and breathes money," says a long-time acquaintance. "He's not scared to take large bets, but he does that only after consulting several other investors and fund managers. He has got a good ring of friends in the market," he says.

Agrawal's bets are often in the range of Rs 20 crore to Rs 50 crore. He is known to keep two portfolios — one for investments and other for trading. Stocks like Nesco, Unitech and Wockhardt have yielded good returns for Agrawal over the years. Bharat Bijlee, Zen Technologies, Rico Auto Industries, KDDL Ltd, Shalimar Paints and Sunshield Chemicals are said to be his other top picks.

Hailing from the Mumbai suburbs, Agrawal and his brother Mayank started investing in stocks in the late-90s.

As many investors did those days, Mukul Agrawal started trading aggressively on market information and stock tips. When he started making money on his trades, he increased his bets. Eventually, he started following the investment pattern of some of the savviest and most notorious stock traders of those times.

It is not known if Agrawal had a direct hotline to some of these traders, but their aggressive investment style impressed him at least a little, according to brokers who have known him for several years.

This is evident from his trades in a leading pharmaceutical company where he entered and exited (the counter) multiple times.

"Multiple entries and exits are a pure trading strategy and Mukul has perfected it very well. He makes a lot of money like this," says the research head of a broking firm. Apart from gathering market consensus, Agrawal is known to be a stickler for research, especially when he is buying in his core portfolio. "Mukul is aggressive, but he does not put his principal at risk. He meets the management of companies where has long-term investments," said the equity sales head of mid-sized brokerage.

Apart from equities, Mukul Agrawal is also known to have investment interests in real estate. He is said to have funded several real estate properties in suburban Mumbai, it is learnt.

Agrawal's success in stock markets comes partly from his close circle of friends. He talks to a wide array of investors - right from highly-placed fund managers to long-only investors and market-movers.

"He's lion-hearted for sure," says a top broker, adding, "He'll take you along if you are his friend."

When stock markets tire him, Agrawal and his friends go on fun trips abroad — to the snow-clad peaks of Switzerland or Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. If the chips are down on the bourses, the gang embarks on trips to temples or Gurudwaras. On Makar Sankranti day, they fly kites atop terraces.

I listen, research and buy stocks in good numbers: Rakesh Kathotia

Age: 47

Comfort zone: Risky bets, stock views and intel

Winning stocks: Century Plyboards, Escorts, Sical Logistics, Essel Propack, Strides Arcolab, Eros International

Rakesh Kathotia bought his first shares 30 years ago while pursuing graduation from a college in Kolkata. Little did he know that the 100 shares of Andrew Yule Company he bought — on a tip from a friend — would hook him to the stock market for life.

Having lived through six rip-roaring bull runs, five depressing bear phases and two big scams, Kathotia has evolved into a wiser and more careful investor. "But I still take a lot of risk. Stock market is the only place where you can take risk; you have to take risk to make money on the bourses," he says. "I listen to a lot people who have a logical approach to investing. If they make sense, I do my own research on the stock; and if I am convinced, I buy the stock in good numbers," Kathotia explains.

Kathotia's moment in the sun came in 2007-08, in the thick of India's biggest bull-run, when he made significant sums of money across trades. Market intermediaries who have long worked with Kathotia describe him as a momentum player. "He rides momentum stocks... he takes a big position, waits for the stock to appreciate and then dumps without any care," says a retired fund manager who has known Kathotia for over two decades.

Kathotia learnt the tricks of the trade while working with a chartered accountant in Kolkata. He relocated to Mumbai in 1987 and a few years later, started a company that lent working capital to corporates. All this while, he dabbled in stocks making small investments and booking profits regularly. The failed venture forced Kathotia to go back to the stock market. His next big break came during the tech-boom, when he made a lot of profitable investments. "Despite having a good run then, we lost money in some IT counters," Kathotia recollects.

In the lull that followed the tech-bubble burst, Kathotia started a private equity fund, Subhkam Ventures, which cut PIPE (private investment in public equity) deals and provided growth funds to startups. The PE fund has exited investments in over 15 companies till date. Kathotia returned to active stock trading at the onset of last bull-run. "We actively participated in the 2006-08 bull-run. Frankly, many of our trade leads were informationbased, but we studied those stocks well before investing."

Kathotia looks at operating cash flows and free cash flows prior to investing in a company. Most Indian companies do not have free cash flows; in such cases, Kathotia focuses on companies with significant RoEs. He also invests in well-managed companies with low operating cash flows, provided they have robust business prospects. Zee TV, Unitech and DLF are among stocks that have turned in good yields for this investor. "I like finding new companies to invest. I track mid- and small-cap stocks very closely," he says.

This hobby of investing in lesser known stocks has cost him dearly a few times, especially in falling markets. "Some of my picks during the tech boom touched zero in value. Till that time, I never believed the stock price could ever touch zero," he guffaws

Friends are important in stock markets: Kalpraj Dharamshi

Age: Late-40s

Comfort zone: Technical and fundamental research, influential friends

Winning stocks: Elecon Engineering, Natco Pharma, Delta Corp, SQS India, E-Serve (later merged with TCS), TVS Motors, Marksans Pharma

The fifth-floor office of Kalpraj Dharamshi in central Mumbai reminds one of the den of Gordon Gekko, the protagonist in the Hollywood movie Wall Street. The room, not large, has soft lighting and is filled with an L-shaped work bureau facing three dealer tables, an array of computer monitors (each displaying charts, excel sheets and portfolio listings), two bronze bull figurines, telephones, piles of neatly arranged folders and an elliptical trainer at the far-end. It is from here Kalpraj Dharamshi punches in his winning trades.

Kalpraj Dharamshi (KD to his friends) is reclusive unlike his more famous friends Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Ramesh Damani. Dharamshi prefers to be like his mentor Radhakishan Damani - silent in his approach and dead accurate while making investments.

Dharamshi and his friends were among the first to find value in niche businesses. Stocks like Amara Raja Batteries and Titan have yielded decent portfolio returns for this pack of value-hunters. Dharamshi is also a big investor in Delta Corp, which runs offshore casinos in Goa.

After much persuasion, Dharamshi met ET in his office a few days ago. His only condition was: "No interview please." "Why should I come out now? I've nothing to tell anyone," he dismissed our pleas for an interview in one brutal stroke. Nevertheless, Dharamshi played a gracious host for the next 90 minutes, discussing stocks, markets, market cycles and strategies. He entered the market in the late 80s as a stock dealer. A few years of internship with leading brokers, some experience calling out trades on the trading ring and friendship pacts with a handful of young promising investors, Dharamshi was ready to start his own broking venture.

A few years later, Dharamshi shut his broking business and turned a fulltime investor. His first big jolt as an investor came in 2001, when the markets went into a tailspin post the 9/11 attack. Dharamshi, at that time, was betting big on stocks — especially of IT companies. After lying low for a few months, Dharamshi cleaned up his portfolio for a fresh start.

The cornerstone of Dharamshi's investments is solid research. KD relies a lot on technical research, according to friends. He is also known to meet managements before making large core-portfolio investments. Dharamshi is also fortunate to have well-connected friends like Damani and Jhunjhunwala to guide him through tough times. "Friends are important in stock markets... you need sensible people to correct you when you are reading markets wrong.," Dharamshi is known to have told an old acquaintance.

Dharamshi hunts for quality companies with good growth prospects. He is not much of a "sector picker" as he believes there could be several wellmanaged companies in sectors facing temporary cyclical headwinds. He does not buy highly-leveraged companies and 'turnaround stories' either. Marksans Pharma, Elecon Engineering, TVS Motors and Natco Pharma have been some of Dharamshi's best investments in recent years. Besides investments in stocks, Dharamshi has a small portfolio of private equity investments, but these have not yielded very well for him, say market insiders.

Hitesh Ramji Zaveri: Winning with large chunks in penny stocks

Age: Late-50s

Comfort zone: Special situations specialist, small-cap and penny stock focus

Winning stocks: DIC India, IFB, Williamson Magor, AP Paper Mills, Tarai Foods, Uniply Industries

Barring a few old-timers on Dalal Street, nobody knows Hitesh Ramji Zaveri that well. Zaveri has no clique or friends, a trait he shares with some of the most successful investors. Not many brokers have dealt for him, and barring a few spreadsheet enthusiasts, no one has seen the depth of this portfolio.

Zaveri holds more than 1 per cent in nearly 60 companies, mostly penny stocks with prices ranging between Rs 5 and Rs 15 a share. Shervani Industrial Syndicate, Mahasagar Travels, STEL Holdings, Shree Steel Wire Ropes, Belapur Industries and Farry Industries are among his top picks.

"These are mostly kabaadi stocks (scrap quality); don't know why he's holding so many such stocks in his portfolio," says a stock researcher.

"For all you know, Zaveri must have bought these shares at very low prices. Since he holds large chunks, any minute bounce in prices would bring in good gains," adds the researcher.

Zaveri did not comment for this article.

Zaveri could be a very influential shareholder in several of these companies, according to a Mumbai-based stock broker. This is evident from his predatory dealings in consumer durables company IFB, where Zaveri picked about 14.35 per cent in early-2000. The IFB management had then approached the Company Law Board (CLB) seeking protection against a hostile takeover bid by Zaveri.

The CLB ruling favoured IFB and forced Zaveri to exit the company, though he made a neat profit. In 2014, Zaveri thwarted DIC India's delisting plans by asking for a better share buyback price. Zaveri holds 2.72 per cent in DIC India.

"He must be a very dominant shareholder in companies where he has chunky holdings. Zaveri seems to have a lot interest in 'special situations' like delisting, where he can force companies to pay better buyback prices," the broker adds.

A savvy Mumbai-based operator, who says he met Zaveri once socially, recalls: "He seems to be a well-informed investor... His investment style is more penny stock-focussed. He likes small MNC stocks as well."