中國基金公司任期最長總經理出任董事長|報導轉載自FT旗下Ignites Asia
導語
嘉實基金發布公告，任職總經理時間達17年之久的趙學軍出任公司董事長，原嘉實基金董事總經理、機構投資和固定收益業務首席投資官經雷接任總經理一職。日前，據FT旗下Ignites Asia採訪報導，中國基金公司由總經理出任董事長實屬罕見，而在中國基金業任職總經理時間最長的趙學軍出任董事長，預示嘉實的海外戰略將更加堅定。
據報導，作為中國最早成立的十家基金公司之一，嘉實基金成立於1999年，發展至今已成為中國最大的資產管理公司。根據韋萊韜悅（Willis Towers Watson）排名統計，截至2016年底，嘉實以1362億美元的資產管理規模位列亞太地區前20大資產管理機構的第12位。
以下報導轉載自Ignites Aisa，記者Selena Li，報導時間：2018年3月29日
China‘s longest-serving fund CEO becomes chair at Deutsche JV
By Selena Li March 29， 2018
Zhao Xuejun has officially stepped down from his post as CEO at Harvest Fund Management after 17 years and has become a co-chairman of the company． Analysts believe his previous aggressive overseas expansion strategy will likely remain intact．
Zhao Xuejun， Harvest Fund Management
Zhao had been CEO at the Beijing-based fund house since 2000． Deutsche Asset Management originally took a 19.5% stake in Harvest in 2005 and then raised its ownership in the firm to 30% in 2008．
Jing Lei， Harvest Fund Management
Last week， the company appointed Jing Lei as its new CEO． Jing was previously chief investment officer of its fixed-income and institutional business．
“In China， whenever you mention Harvest， you will think of Zhao Xuejun，” a Shanghai-based senior fund analyst who asked not to be named tells Ignites Asia， adding that the name of the former CEO has become closely associated with the brand value of the firm．
Established in 1999 as one of the first 10 fund houses in China， Harvest grew to become the country’s largest asset manager and ranked number 12 among the top 20 for Asia Pacific as of end-2016， with US$136.2 billion in assets under management， according to the latest-available global AUM ranking by Willis Towers Watson．
Under Zhao’s leadership， the public fund house has branched out into independent financial advice， venture capital and private equity， but what’s noteworthy is its overseas footprint， says the analyst．
“Harvest is one of the first batch of Chinese fund houses to expand overseas， and with Zhao being the firm’s chairman and having a new CEO who has worked for foreign asset owners， the brand is expected to follow Zhao’s strategy and may give its overseas expansion a boost，” the analyst says．
Jing， who worked for AIG in New York in an investment research role from 1998 to 2008， subsequently returned to China to head AIA’s China asset management centre． He joined Harvest in 2013 as CIO and head of institutional business and fixed-income investment， according to a company statement．
Compared to its Chinese peers， Harvest has a wider business operation overseas， and despite the new leadership， the firm is most likely to stick to the strategy mapped out by Zhao， according to Hui Miao， a Singapore-based senior analyst covering China at Cerulli Associates．
Harvest was among the Chinese asset managers that ventured outside the mainland market through its global arm， Harvest Global Investments． HGI was originally a Hong Kong-based fund subsidiary established in 2008． It opened a New York office in 2012 and a London office three years later．
In March 2017， HGI launched its first Ucits mutual fund in Europe， the Harvest China Evolution Equity Fund， available to institutional and wholesale investors in Switzerland， the U.K．， Luxembourg and Finland． Four months later， it became the first asset management company to qualify two funds for the new Mutual Recognition of Funds scheme between Hong Kong and Switzerland， as reported．
In Australia， HGI is considering acquisitions of mid- to large-cap financial companies， according to the Australian Financial Review．
“Harvest will follow its long-term global strategy，” a Beijing-based spokeswoman tells Ignites Asia， adding that the firm is not yet ready to reveal details of its offshore operation under its new CEO．
“[Jing] has recorded outstanding performance in investment return and assets under management since he joined Harvest， with the institutional business [growing] by 124% in the recent three years to reach Rmb510 billion，” the company says in a statement．
“Rare case”
Zhao’s 17-year tenure seems exceptionally long when compared to the 3.85-year industry average for fund CEOs．
A CEO of a Chinese public fund house serves on average less than four years in that role before moving on， with more than 75% of China’s top asset management professionals staying less than five years， as reported．
“It’s very rare a CEO [is] reappointed as a fund house’s chairman in China， especially in the top-league fund houses，” the Shanghai analyst says． In China， most of the large fund houses have either a bank or brokerage shareholder， with strong influence on chairman appointments．
China Credit Trust， Harvest’s biggest shareholder， with a 40% stake in the firm， was able to appoint its own president as co-chairman to work side by side with Zhao．
In China， there was one similar case， in which Fan Yonghong， founding CEO of China Asset Management， one of China’s largest fund houses， stepped down from the CEO post and was appointed as vice chairman， but he left the company one year later．
According to the analyst， there are two possibilities why an outgoing CEO could land a leading role in the boardroom．
One is that a company’s shareholders may want to mitigate the negative impact of a well-known CEO’s departure and arrange a temporary post in the boardroom as a transition for leadership change．
The other is that the CEO is appreciated by shareholders and still wields an enormous influence on the company’s operation． In this case， being a chairman means the former CEO can map out strategy for his successor．
When asked by Ignites Asia if Zhao will leave the firm after a one- or two-year transition period， the company’s Beijing-based spokeswoman insists， “Zhao will not leave Harvest．” However， she did not give reasons for the leadership change or provide any further elaboration．
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