It was the last working week of the year, that few forgotten days tucked away between Christmas and the New Year. Driving that morning was a surreal experience, with the roads devoid of cars despite them running on their ridiculously priced COEs. Everything seemed to move slower, in a more relaxed manner.

The surreality factor went up a notch when Alvin and myself found ourselves in an industrial building, seated across the table with Eric Kong and Wong Seak Eng, two gentlemen who founded and now run the Aggregate Value Fund. In place of the customary IWC watches and cuff links-that-cost-more-than-my-monthly-income so fancied by bankers and fund managers, they had on themselves sedate Casios and casual checked shirts that is more High Street than Wall Street. And instead of regaling us with fancy mission statements and sleek sales pitches about what their fund could do, what we got was interesting, ...