A medical doctor turned entrepreneur, Dr Anthony Soh had kept a low profile until the recent aborted takeover of little-known Jade Technologies catapulted him into the corporate spotlight.

The 52-year-old chief executive of Jade speaks of going through the 'most challenging' period of his life now.

'It actually is more than challenging, it is a life-awakening experience,' he told The Sunday Times in a phone interview last Friday night as he struggled to describe the past few weeks.

Just a month ago, investors were lauding him as the latest hotshot corporate figure who, soon after his entrance in Jade last May, propelled the company's shares to heady heights.

Today, his role in the failed takeover of Jade is being questioned.

On April 5, he had to pull the plug on his proposed buyout because he had no funds to do the deal after losing Jade shares he had pledged. Investors who have seen the shares plunge 70 per cent are screaming blue murder, wondering if there is more to Dr Soh's withdrawal than meets the eye.

OCBC Bank, which advised Dr Soh, is hinting that it may have been misled and has made a report to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).

So how did a doctor turned businessman turned venture capitalist turned corporate figure wind up in this whirlwind of trouble?

The eldest son of a bus driver and a hospital amah, Dr Soh took a path many bright youngsters in his cohort embarked on. He attended Catholic High School and went on to National Junior College and medical school at the then-University of Singapore.

While training at the Singapore General Hospital, he met Jane, a nurse, and they married soon after he qualified. He spent the following years as a general practitioner.

But being a GP was a 'tiring, hectic life', he recalled. 'I had many friends, GPs, who told me that they regretted they did not leave until it was too late. I thought that business would give more diversity to my life.'

Being 'strongly admonished' by the Singapore Medical Council in 1992 for his handling of a patient who later died of malaria probably did not help. He gave up his practising certificate only a few years ago.

In 1992, at the age of 37, he quit being a GP, but he did not quit the medical field.

He had started a company looking at developing either a telemonitor which could monitor heart rates from a distance or a non-invasive diabetic device which would allow patients to test their blood sugar without breaking the skin.

He managed to sell this business off for a couple of million dollars.

Dr Soh had a passion for the Internet and got a job as a consultant to home-grown Pacific Internet (PacNet) in 1994, where he created content for medical online sites.

He helped PacNet start up Doctors Online which offered medical information and professional services via the Net. Some time later, PacNet wanted to concentrate solely on being an Internet service provider, so Dr Soh and his team continued with this loss-making content business separately.

'I was known as the first Internet doctor,' he said. In 1998, the now renamed business - Health Online - won an Innovative IT Service Award given by the National Computer Board. It connected doctors via the Internet, offering them access to online medical resources such as medical journals.

The business was successful enough for French company Havas Medimedia to buy it over in 1996. Havas, as is common with many buyouts, required Dr Soh to stay on for three years.

But he welcomed the experience. After all, he was getting to know about the nuts and bolts of business. 'I had a lot of responsibility for profits. I was the regional managing director, and represented 14 countries.'

He later joined a listed Hong Kong company dealing in medical services. He travelled to China and Taiwan, handling mergers and acquisitions such as buying homes for the aged.

In 1999, he was headhunted and returned to Singapore to lead a biomedical fund launched by United Overseas Bank, which would invest in companies in the biomedical field, then a relatively new area for Singapore.

'People were surprised to find a doctor in the bank. But while I was doing financial work, we were investing in companies which made medical devices, for example, or drug companies, so that was related to the medical field.'

He is proud to say: 'I picked up my financial knowledge along the way. It wasn't easy but I was passionate about what I was doing. When I was in the Internet business, there were people with master's in IT working for me. When I was at the bank, there were also CFAs (certified financial analysts) in my team.'

He feels that he did not do too badly; six investments were sold off at a good profit, including China Medstar which listed on London's Alternative Investment board and Cord-life on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Always ahead of the curve, he entered the venture capital world - investing in start-ups and helping them list - in 2002 when it was taking off.

A contact from Indonesia was willing to put in $1 million. Dr Soh and his friends eventually raised about $20 million and this became Asia Pacific Venture Capital, he said. This entity identified China companies which could go public.

As the initial public offering (IPO) market boomed, he branched out to offer asset management and IPO advisory services.

But it was not that easy to make money. More IPO houses joined the market and there were also more laws. 'We would get an IPO fee of between $300,000 and $400,000 but we had to spend a few years working on the project. That was when I thought investments including investing in listed companies would bring in better returns.'

Jade, a precision engineering firm, was a unit of a US company and had listed on Sesdaq in 1997. Through its US parent, it had become an indirect unit of US banking giant Citigroup.

When Citigroup wanted to exit, Dr Soh bought into it and became its group president. Investors were cheered, hoping the struggling company would get a new lease of life.

Dr Soh has since taken stakes in two other listed companies. Last October, he became the largest shareholder in computer game developer Netelusion. He is also a significant shareholder in a loss-making technology company, Ei-Nets, now known as E3 Holdings, with plans to transform it into a China real estate player.

Of the mess he is now staring at, he said: 'How can a victim be a culprit overnight? When you are successful, you are king. When something goes wrong, people will turn around and say you are the culprit.'

He added: 'Maybe I was running too fast. Could I have spent more time grooming the first company?'

Some four years ago, when Dr Soh, who was then running his venture capital fund, met this reporter, he came across as a dynamic personality who wanted to expand his business. His office at International Plaza was a hive of activity.

Someone who worked with him several years ago recalled that Dr Soh struck him as a 'down to earth and energetic professional'. However, a banker said he did not seem cut out to be a wheeler-dealer type.

Some of the negative aspects of the Jade deal have echoes of the past. There was a failed attempt to get financing to buy a Bali bank in 2005, although Dr Soh said that he withdrew from the deal as it did not fit his criteria.

Dr Soh said his wife - who works in a health-care business he founded - and two grown-up children have been extremely supportive.

'They have lived with me for more than 30 years. I cannot have changed my character in the space of two months,' he said.

As the CAD and the Securities Industry Council, the enforcer of the takeover code, scrutinise the deal and angry investors wait for the outcome, the staunch Christian who attends the Victory Family Centre said he is also drawing strength from his faith.

'Last year, I gave $100,000 to a church in Nigeria. The poor pastor was desperate then because no one wanted to donate. People hear Nigeria, they think it is a scam,' he said. 'Now, thousands of miles away, people are praying for me. I was told that 2,000 people fasted overnight. They said that they will storm heaven with their prayers to ensure that justice is done.'

sushyan@sph.com.sg

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