Two Minutes with Ju Leng Koh, Senior Analyst

This week, we spoke to Ju Leng Koh, Senior Analyst, based in our Singapore office.

How long you have worked at Infospectrum?

I joined Infospectrum’s Analyst team, in Singapore, in 2016.

What did you do before joining Infospectrum?

For five years prior to that, I was a Dry Bulk Research Analyst at a German dry bulk ship owning company, where I started my career in shipping after graduating from university. While I had earned a degree in accountancy, I was immediately fascinated by the shipping industry, with its dynamism and its crucial role in our global economy. During my years as a research analyst, I developed my knowledge of the dry bulk commodity sector and freight market. 

While my background in credit analysis was limited when I joined Infospectrum, I was already familiar with the scope and quality of its research and reporting, and the role it plays in the maritime sector due diligence sphere. I was keen to learn more about risk assessments in shipping and commodity trading, and it was intriguing to be able to analyse the players within those markets. 

What does your job entail and what do you enjoy about it?

A typical day for an Analyst at Infospectrum starts with a team meeting to share knowledge and market intelligence and allocate research/reporting assignments. While each Analyst has a portfolio of companies they follow over time, producing assessments is very much a collaborative process as you often find that colleagues will have insight to share on your subject company, be it intelligence they gleaned from market sources, or through their research on another company. Much of the day is spent conducting interviews with subject company management, collating feedback from market sources, and conducting our due diligence; this experience varies day-to-day, because the research process takes you to many different sources sharing valuable and sometimes unexpected information.

Towards the end of each research assignment, using all the intelligence gathered and consideration of pertinent factors, I will have formed a view about the risk profile of the subject company, and communicate that with a detailed analytical report that is sent out to clients. I must say, it can be very satisfying to produce an informative/insightful (often 1,500-2,000 word) report on a company that, at the start of the day, may only have been known as a name and nothing more. Another interesting aspect of our work is that, whether we are researching a company that owns one vessel, or the head of a billion-dollar conglomerate, the report has a consistent structure, and relays the necessary information and reasoning to the reader in a clear, detailed, and digestible form.

What is the best part of working for Infospectrum?

I think one of the Analyst team’s greatest strengths is its diverse background; we have Analysts located around the world, who have come from a wide range of sectors, be it dry bulk, tanker, container shipping, commodity, credit, or finance. As an Analyst in Infospectrum, you never know what type of company you will be researching, analysing and assessing next, doing so within clients transaction-led deadlines; in this context, being able to tap into your team’s vast knowledge base is extremely valuable. 

What kind of things do you enjoy outside of work?

Outside of work, I enjoy traveling and exploring new places. I love getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city and being around nature, as well as escaping from the humid heat of Singapore!

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