HEAD-TO-HEAD: China Merchants versus Penghua

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Manager review

“The products benefit from being managed by experienced industry professionals, with each having managers who have spent more than a decade running funds,” said Wu.

The CMF fund is managed by Long Ma, who took over the fund in 2015 and has 11 years of investment experience.

“Ma has impressed us with his credit-picking skills,” said Wu.

The manager of the Penghua fund, Song Zhu, has 15 years of experience, and has helmed the strategy since 2014.

“Zhu has demonstrated skills across many bond sectors, including corporate bonds, government and policy bank bonds, and convertibles,” said Wu.

“Both managers also receive ample support from the research teams,” she added.

Ma can lean on the resources of 13 fixed income analysts with four years of experience on average, including eight credit analysts, three macro and rates specialists and two convertible analysts.

“Although the credit team is smaller than the Penghua fund, it is focused on industrial bonds, providing in-depth individual bond research support for the fund’s main holdings,” said Wu.

Zhu is backed by a 23-member fixed income research team with three years of experience on average, of which 15 are credit analysis.

“He is also closely supported by three experienced portfolio management assistants on macro positioning and individual credit selection,” said Wu.

“However, Ma has a heavier workload than Zhu,” said Wu. He is currently running eight funds, which collectively have assets of RMB30.5bn ($4.72bn) while Zhu manages RMB9.8bn of assets.

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