A NEW breed of senior managers is taking the top positions in the latest glamour stocks to power mainland and local markets.
Beijing Enterprises vice-president Fang Fang is indicative of the changes reshaping board rooms on the mainland.
Mr Fang has an engineering degree, a master's degree in business administration from the United States and has experience as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch in New York.
Investment experts say the musty smell of political hacks and party cadres is being replaced by a new generation of executives. They also say international financial experience may be just as important as asset injections to determine a stock's long-term value.
Hong Kong's Seapower Asset Management Company director of corporate strategy Thomas Tsao Gai-tei said: 'Instead of just looking at the [stock] price, look at the actual people in the companies.' HSBC Asset Management director Chung Wing-man said rumours and expectations had been the price-drivers in mainland-connected stocks, but as the companies matured 'this sort of mystery' would be less important and management would make the difference.
This does not mean investors should ignore basics such as profit and price-earnings ratios when deciding where to put their money.