People & Principals

Sandy Mehta, CFA
Principal & CIO
Value Investment Principals Ltd.

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Sandy has over 25 years of experience in the investment management industry. Sandy founded Acumen Capital Management in 2004, and incubated a long-short pan-Asia [ex-Japan] hedge fund with US$20 million in initial assets at launch, and successfully grew the firm to over $200 million in both hedge fund and long-only assets. Acumen’s client mix have included seed investors Weston Capital [Stamford, CT] and Atlas Capital [London], European and US pension clients, institutional investors, fund-of-funds, and five separate accounts – the largest being a $50 million mandate from a Swiss publicly-listed company.

Prior to launching Acumen, Sandy was a Portfolio Manager of $3 billion in global and international core portfolios at Wellington Management Company in Boston. At Putnam Investments, Sandy was a Portfolio Manager of two 5-Star rated funds – Putnam Global Equity Fund, which was a “flagship” product with $15 billion in mutual fund and separate account assets [50 institutional clients], and the $2 billion Putnam Capital Opportunities Fund. He also incubated a global small cap fund, raising $300 million in initial assets. Sandy was previously Head of the global financial research team at Putnam, supervising eight analysts covering global financial equities. Sandy started his career as a Senior Analyst at Ariel Capital Management in Chicago.

Sandy has had the good fortune of working with some legendary value investors, including John W. Rogers, Jr., Founder/CEO of Ariel Capital (profiled in The New Money Masters, and regular FORBES columnist), Arnie Schneider III, Partner at Wellington Management and Founder/CEO of Schneider Capital (profiled in Barron's), and John Neff, Fund Manager for 31 years of the Windsor Fund (featured in Barrron's Roundtable, Money Masters of our Time, and author of John Neff on Investing).

Awards & Recognition:
Acumen’s Asia Hedge Fund: Finalist HFMWeek 2007 Performance Awards in the “Best Newcomer” category. Pensions & Investments “Top Performing Hedge Funds [8-20-2007]. Highlighted in “Best Performing Hedge Funds” for Year 2007 by Boston Business Journal.
Putnam Capital Opportunities Fund: Morningstar 5-Star rating. “Category King” top-10 rank for year 2000 ranking by Wall Street Journal [1-08-2002]. “Best in Class 2002” by Mutual Fund Magazine [1-2001]. “No. 1 Performing Fund in Category - trailing one-year performance” WSJ [5-25-2001].
Putnam Global Equity Fund: Morningstar 5-Star rating. “Best in Class 2002” selection by Mutual Fund Magazine [1-2001].

Media Interviews:
New York Times, BusinessWeek, Forbes, CNBC TV, Bloomberg TV, International Herald Tribune, AsiaHedge, Wall Street Transcript, NDTV Profit, Money magazine, HedgeFund.net, Stocks Options & Futures TV, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, MARHedge, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNN, FOX TV, Washington Post, Times of India, Business Day, Shanghai Daily, International Business Times, Indian Express, China Daily, Financial Post, Washington Post, South China Morning Post, Value Walk, etc.

Sandy has an MBA degree [Director’s List honors] from the Wharton School, a Master of International Management [with Honors] from the American Graduate School of International Management and a Bachelor of Commerce [Distinction and University Ranking] from Sydenham College, Mumbai. He attained the Chartered Financial Analyst designation at the age of 25. Sandy has also won a collegiate level chess tournament. Sandy is a member of YPO, Young Presidents Organization. He is also a Director of several companies.


Vijay Lohia, CFA
Director of Research

Vijay has over 10 years of research experience covering stocks in numerous sectors and countries across the world. Previously he worked with UBS Investment Bank covering Asian technology and Middle East real estate and construction. Prior to that, he has worked with Zacks Investment Research tracking the USA healthcare sector. Vijay holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and MS (Finance) from ICFAI University, ranking all-India highest grades in Economic Legislation and Financial Management. He received his Bachelor of Commerce degree with Distinction from Calcutta University.


Shachi Seksaria
Equity Analyst

Shachi has research experience covering stocks across a number of sectors. She has previously worked with over four years experience at a leading Hedge Fund Ambit Investment Advisors as an equity research analyst tracking sectors including pharmaceuticals, consumer products, retail, media and agrochemicals. She has also done an internship with UBS' investment banking division in London. Shachi has received a Masters degree in Management and Economics with Distinction, as well as a BSc in Management with Distinction, from the prestigious London School of Economics.


Manas Tiwari, CFA
Equity Analyst

Manas has previously worked with a New York-based investment advisory firm, Rational Investing LLC, providing fundamental research and DCF based valuations on global equities to leading long-only and hedge fund clients. Manas has research experience covering stocks in various sectors and markets around the globe. He holds a Bachelor of Technology Degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology [IIT], Delhi and has successfully completed the USA CFA Program. In addition, he has earned certificates in capital markets and derivatives by the NSE and BSE stock exchanges and has experience trading US Equities.


Devina Bafna
Equity Analyst

Devina has experience in Equity Research across multiple sectors and countries throughout the world including Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, Banking and Financial Services, Airlines, Industrials, etc. She has worked with Creditpointe Services performing equity and credit analysis on several global sectors for clients such as Fidelity Investments. Prior to that, she has worked with USA-based Zacks Investment Research focusing on both initiating coverage as well as ongoing maintenance research of stocks globally. Devina has a Masters Degree in Finance from ICFAI University. She received her Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction in Kolkata with a No. 1 rank in Accounting. She is presently a CFA level 3 candidate.