Star fund manager Qiu Dongrong trims holdings in Chinese property developers, bets on aluminium smelter to navigate tough investment climate

Name: Boom, bust and borrow: Has China’s housing market tanked?
Uploaded: 2023-07-17T11:30:08.000Z
Duration: 10 min 57 s
Description: Boom, bust and borrow: Has China’s housing market tanked?

Qiu Dongrong at Zhonggeng Fund Management bet on China Hongqiao and short-video platform Kuaishou Technology in the second quarter

‘China’s economic recovery was slow in the second quarter,’ said Qiu. ‘A mild pickup in the economy is conducive to the bottoming-out of corporate earnings.’

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Molten aluminum pours from a crucible in a smelting plant. Qiu bought 14.6 million shares of China Hongqiao, making the Shandong-based metal producer the biggest holding in his flagship fund. Photo: Bloomberg

Zhang Shidongin Shanghai

Published: 7:30pm, 17 Jul 2023

One of China’s star fund managers increased his investments in China Hongqiao Group, one of the world’s biggest aluminium smelters, and short-video platform Kuaishou Technology in the second quarter, while trimming holdings of property developers, offering some clues as to how the best money managers are navigating the tough market environment.

Qiu Dongrong at Zhonggeng Fund Management in Shanghai was the first of the top-ranked money managers to disclose their second-quarter portfolio reports.

He bought 14.6 million shares of China Hongqiao in the past quarter, making the Shandong-based metal producer the biggest holding in his flagship US$1.6 billion Zhonggeng Value Leading Mixed Fund, the report showed. Qiu also added about 11 million shares of Kuaishou, while reducing his holdings of Yuexiu Property and China Overseas land and Investment by 21.4 million shares and 9.4 million shares, respectively.

Qiu’s latest positions shed some light on the ways in which star managers coped with a tumultuous second quarter that saw onshore and offshore markets decline after the so-called reopening trade fizzled out.

Qiu rose to stardom when he worked for HSBC Jintrust Fund Management from 2014 to 2018. Two funds under his management delivered an average annualised return of 34 per cent during that time. He joined Zhonggeng Fund in November 2018.

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Boom, bust and borrow: Has China’s housing market tanked?

“China’s economic recovery was slow in the second quarter,” said Qiu in the quarterly report. “A mild pickup in the economy is conducive to the bottoming-out of corporate earnings.