Chen Feng is in charge of a total of 27 billion yuan in Bosera
stock funds, but he's nothing special according to his colleagues.
Chen is not a garrulous man but he is really good at guessing
riddles.
As China's largest fund company, Bosera Fund's office building
looks quite fantastic from the outside. But the fund managers'
offices inside are very simple and no different from those of any
other companies.?
On Chen Feng's desk is a white and black photo of George Soros
clipped from a newspaper. Chen smiled and said that his predecessor
left it behind.?
For his old schoolmates, Chen Feng's life is rather bland. Most
of his schoolmates have their own small businesses. They often get
together but Chen Feng is committed to sit and discuss China's
economic fluctuations everyday with his peers. This kind of life
seems dreary to his old buddies.??
Compared with the national capital market with a total asset value
of 30,000 billion yuan, his 27 billion yuan "is just like a drop of
water in the sea. It's nothing to boast about," Chen Feng
remarked.?
But by talking with Chen, we found that 2007 has had a profound
impact on fund managers. Each of them has undergone complicated
external alterations and even more subtle internal mental
changes.
March: crazy expansion of the total fund
A colleague of Chen Feng who works in the same department admitted
that they now have an advantage: they don't have to sell funds by
themselves. This is quite different from previous years. He added:
"Previously when we planned to hold a meeting to encourage ordinary
people to buy funds, only about twenty people would
attend."??
Now we reserve a meeting room with 800 seats, and more than
2,000 people may end up attending it, and all have expectations.
Bosera holds 1,000 lectures or "fund lessons" across the country
annually, aiming at accommodating ordinary investors with basic
fund knowledge. Chen Feng still remembers selling funds and giving
lectures in Hunan several years ago, adding that, "We sold 8
million funds in a little over a month." Some one even remarked,
"Why not sell funds at supermarkets?"???
He gave lectures in many places. When lecturing in Beijing, many
people in the audience were old men holding their grandsons; these
grandparents knew virtually nothing about funds. They asked very
basic questions: what exactly is a fund? Which is better, a one
yuan fund or a three yuan fund? What they cared about the most was
how much profit they could earn from buying funds.?
Chen Feng's guiding principle is to make listeners understand that
funds are also a kind of investment. Risks are an essential part of
investment and fund investments also take risks. But many Chinese
have become familiar with basic investment knowledge starting in
2007. Total fund assets have been expanding at an astounding speed.
Bosera's selection of stock funds has evolved into an enormous fund
worth tens of billion of yuan from its initial several billion
yuan.?
Fund sales agencies also changed their style. Previously fund
companies had to find local sales agencies and entrusted them to
sell their funds. But today a U-turn has been made. Sales agencies
now offer to help sell Bosera funds. "This year funds sold quite
well. They must have earned a great deal of money," one of the
Bosera employees remarked.
Chen Feng felt that the Chinese enthusiasm for investments has
definitely been aroused. This is a fast growing year for fund
investments. All of his high schoolmates telephoned him and
inquired where they should put their money.?
?
As the total fund managed has expanded, Chen Feng has also changed
his vision, especially his interactions with foreign fund
companies. Several years ago, one president of a Taiwan company
asserted that his company was managing a total fund worth over 100
billion yuan. "At that time we thought this was an amount that we
would never be able to reach." But the vigorous investment
enthusiasm on the mainland this year has pushed Bosera's total fund
assets to a new high, over 250 billion
yuan.?????
Days ago an American came to China and said he wanted to invest
an undisclosed sum of money in the Chinese financial market.
"Initially, we were quite interested. Several fund managers
together went to pitch their respective funds. After a long
conversation they found out that he had a total investment of 100
million dollars but he only planned to put 2 percent of it in the
Chinese market. Upon learning this, the assembled fund managers
pitching their funds stared at each other, unable to speak a word,"
Chen Feng noted. Today a few tens of millions to invest is simply
too paltry a sum for Chinese fund managers.??
During April 2007, Chen Feng's total fund managed rose sharply.
After the share prices collapsed on May 30, people's interest in
purchasing funds got further stirred up. Starting from September,
according to the stock index, the blue chip stocks have
strengthened, prompting a rush to buy funds over a short period of
time.
In November Chen Feng ceased selling Bosera's selection stock
funds for a while to "prevent blind investments". Chen explained
that he feels responsible for those grandfathers who came to listen
to his lectures with their grandsons. "We must tell them fund
investments have risks. You can only join in the fund investment
army only if you have adequate risk resistance capacity."
?????
August: Rashomon at the capital market
Before Chen Feng decides to buy a stock, he meets with many
experts and scholars and makes many detailed analyses. But what he
values most is a spot investigation inside a related listed
company.
Years ago the supervision over listed companies was not quite
adequate. Chen Feng came to Gansu to investigate a listed company
producing starch and he found that all the machines had ceased
production. The managers there told him it was a workers' rest day.
After he returned, Chen learned that they had not yet started their
production. Later they sold all the machines.??
In order to determine whether to buy the stock of a coal mining
enterprise, Chen Feng investigated the mine. According to the data
provided by analysts, this mine would soon expand its production in
order to meet the ever-increasing demand for coal in recent years.
"My personal observation of the mine indicated that it was
impossible to expand coal production in such a short period.
Therefore I refuted the original analysis
report."????
Considering their own interests, some senior managers of listed
companies may intentionally lie to fund managers, so it is vital to
conduct an investigation in person.??
?
Chen Feng believed that many things on the capital market resemble
"Rashomon". Everyone has his own way of describing things and his
own explanations, but no one can easily make a judgment. Even the
wisest research analysts may make mistakes.??
Chen always tells himself to try to be impartial. As an enormous
fund company with a total of over 60 stocks, "We must not hold any
prejudice against any industry." Yet Chen himself had a bias
against the petrochemical industry. "I felt that its stock prices
were unlikely to rise. But later my research analysts persuaded me
by their facts. One petrochemical enterprise's stock prices rose 1
yuan in a short time," said Chen.
November: great pressure
As a stock fund manager, Chen Feng has to face the rapidly
changing stock market.?
It is an accepted fact that fund managers don't sleep well
because "they are worrying about returns all the time." According
to his colleagues, Chen Feng has the least stress. "He is extremely
quick in making decisions whether to buy or sell."??
However, in November as several macroeconomic policies, such as
tight monetary policies and mortgage policies, came forward in
succession, Chen Feng also felt great mental stress.
"Once a new policy is introduced, you have to make a judgment
within a few days. When the policy comes out, you have to make a
primary judgment on the following day." Chen Feng usually likes to
play chess on the computer so as to ease the strain. "But at that
time it was useless for me to play chess," Chen noted. When the
mortgage policy came out, fund managers had to communicate with all
the industry analysts one by one. "We had to discuss policy with
the high level managers in listed real estate companies as well as
bank credit personnel round the clock. We had no time to
sleep."???????????
When a major trend is identified, fund managers have to keep a
close eye on the changes during the following days. One essential
quality of a fund manager is to be brave enough to confront all
changes. "You may have just formed a seemingly perfect analysis
framework. A small change may tilt it all over. You have to
readjust your analysis framework. So you may feel very tired." That
is why Chen Feng prefers to read history books. The reason is quite
simple: "things in history books do not
change."????
?
Actually Chen doesn't long for a quiet world. "I once read a book
which analyzes people's desires: some people love money; some love
fame; some love to do research. I'm personally fond of research. If
I can clearly analyze China's economy and establish my own analysis
framework, it would give me a sense of
achievement."?????
His love for research may place him at the top of the list of
the 10 best Chinese fund managers this year. "Actually I don't earn
much money, only about one million yuan a year," Chen Feng
remarked. He thinks he is only an ordinary white-collar worker who
has not even fully paid back his mortgage
yet.???
(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, December 27, 2007)
