Vijay Harpalani

- Track-record in managing public equity and fixed income funds with focus on Middle East and North African geographies.
- Fundamental analysis using a blend of top-down and bottom-up approach
- Creating and reviewing financial models of investee companies
- Engaging with management of investee companies to have access to credible information and improving quality of estimates
- Involved in setting-up, launching and marketing of new funds
- Meeting with clients to discuss investment themes and market views
- Providing quotes to media (Gulf News, Zawya, The National, Reuters) on capital market opinions
- Mentoring team of junior analysts/interns
- Liaising with regulators for all regulatory issues

I joined Finance House P.J.S.C ("FH") as a buy-side analyst specialising in equities. At FH, I was instrumental in setting-up a formal research process for screening and analysing equity investments.

Over the period of last 4.5 years, I have been able to add value to the firm by generating profitable investment ideas, and streamlining the research process (resulting into time and cost savings).

I have also advanced my learning curve by quickly updating my knowledge base on other asset classes such as fixed income, private equity and real estate. I am currently responsible for handling a proprietary investment portfolio of circa USD 250 mn, invested across multiple asset classes, geographies and sectors.

My work involves fundamental analysis, financial modelling, valuation, due diligence, preparation of proposals, and presentation of investment ideas. I have received very positive feedback on my work from all my senior colleagues. I have been directly reporting to the Chief Investment Officer.

I joined Batlivala & Karani ("B&K"), one of the top institutional brokerage houses in Mumbai, India (well-known for its coverage of mid-cap stocks), as an equity associate.

My responsibilities included reviving coverage of building materials sector. During my stint of around 2.5 years with B&K, I have covered companies like Asian Paints, Tata Chemicals, Greenply Industries, Ballarpur Industries, Akzo Nobel India and several others.

I was instrumental in bringing Berger Paints under coverage (I was the first analyst to have covered them), and facilitated information access to our clients.

I followed on-the-ground approach to my work, which otherwise involves lot of desk-based work. Apart from establishing a solid network with C-level executives of companies under my coverage, I also built a good relationship with all intermediaries in the industry (for example, key paint dealers across India, key management of unlisted companies that I covered). This high-level research work and strong relationship management was highly admired by clients, and it even resulted into cross-sell opportunities for my firm

I have authored and published host of reports covering new stock ideas, sector-strategy, sector reports, client presentations and other updates

I joined J.R.S. as a audit trainee (required as part of Chartered Accountancy curriculum). I had very eventful career as I got to assist in statutory as well as internal audit of companies in various sectors like manufacturing, banking, insurance and services.

My work involved performing vouching and validating accounting records. I have also assisted in preparation of financial statements according to the Indian accounting standards, and in the preparation of the audit report.