Woman In A Whisky World

Li Hua Tan of Rare Whisky Holdings is one of only a few women in the world of whisky investing. She tells us just how lucrative the liquid gold can be.

- Dannon Har

Even seven years ago, alternative asset classes like whisky didn’t hold the cachet they do today. However, Li Hua Tan and other intrepid investors spotted the spirit long before today’s liquid gold rush.

Platinum Whisky Investment Fund, of which Tan was a general partner, wound down last September, delivering an annualised return of 17 per cent. Established in June 2014, it claimed to be the world’s first private equity fund focussed on rare, single malt whiskies.

“The main challenge was educating investors about single malt whisky as an alternative asset class, as it had never been done before,” recalls Tan.

Malaysia-born Tan recognised the investment opportunity offered by the “large disparity between supply and demand in the rare single malt whisky industry” even when whisky bars were few and far between in Hong Kong, where she currently resides.