Hedge fund Man Group’s China head to retire
Li Yifei, head of hedge fund Man Group’s China division, is retiring from the company after more than a decade, just as Man is expanding its presence in the country following recent market-opening measures.
In an email to employees, Man Group chief executive Luke Ellis and president Jonathan Sorrell thanked Ms Li for her “extraordinary contribution” to the growth of the China business.
London-based Man Group, which is known for its computer-driven funds, opened its first office in China in 2012. The company’s global assets under management have swelled to $114bn despite mixed performance and a flagging share price.
Ms Li, 54, previously served as chief representative in China for Viacom and head of MTV, and was China general manager of Burson-Marsteller, the public relations company.
Ms Li’s “global expertise and local knowledge have been instrumental to our significant progress in a complex market, something that has been a challenge for many industry peers”, the executives wrote in the letter.
“We would like to thank Yifei . . . for helping us build a compelling local offering in what is a relatively new market for the global investment management industry,” they added, calling her “the driving force behind Man Group’s success in China”.
Ms Li confirmed the move to the Financial Times in a message on WeChat. “I am leaving Man Group and will do some R and R,” she said.
She garnered headlines in September 2015 when, amid dramatic declines in China’s stock market that prompted regulators to lash out at “malicious” short sellers, reports swirled that authorities had detained her for questioning.
The previous month, regulators had suspended an account operated by the brokerage arm of the US hedge fund Citadel as part of a broader probe into high-frequency trading.
When she re-emerged after several days’ absence, Ms Li denied that she was detained or “forced to attend” any meetings. Instead, she said she was “tired after so many meetings,” so she took “several days off to meditate since there was a [public] holiday, drinking vegetable juice, eating some nuts and climbing mountains” with her phone switched off.
Man’s China fortunes appeared bright when Chinese regulators included the group in the first batch of six foreign alternative asset managers to receive quotas allowing them to raise funds from qualified Chinese investors for investment overseas.
But this so-called qualified domestic limited partnership proved a disappointment to those hoping it would provide a significant channel for Chinese portfolio capital to flow abroad. Regulators proved unwilling to expand on the initial $50m in quotas granted to each of the six funds, due to concerns about capital flight and renminbi depreciation.
This year, regulators finally granted additional quotas to some participants as concerns eased, but it is not clear if Man was included in this second batch.
Since late 2017, Man has joined the broader wave of foreign asset managers taking advantage of new market-opening measures that allow them to operate wholly owned fund management businesses in China. Previously, foreign investment managers were allowed to operate only through minority stakes in joint ventures with a Chinese partner.
Like other foreign-owned groups that have secured “private fund management” licences, Man’s Shanghai-based entity is permitted to invest within China on behalf of Chinese institutions and wealthy individuals.
https://www.ft.com/content/c33d56ca-01b0-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1