However, no matter how many major institutional groups or investor demographics focused their attention on Huayi Capital both inside and outside the market at this moment, within the walls of Huayi Capital itself—whether it was Su Yi or the entire primary trading department of the "Huayi Expedition No. 1" fund— everyone was completing their work methodically and deploying positions strictly according to the established investment strategy.
"President Su, this is the trading summary of our 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund product for last month."
Just before leaving work, after concluding the trading department's strategy meeting, Fund Manager Hou Baolong walked into Su Yi's office to report,
"Currently, in terms of scale, our 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund is already the largest private equity fund product in the country, and our fund's net asset value performance for the year currently ranks first in the industry."
Su Yi took the monthly fund trading summary report handed over by Hou Baolong, looked it over carefully, and said,
"This is all the result of everyone's joint efforts. I heard that a while ago, many people in our trading department were somewhat envious after hearing that our colleagues at the Hong Kong branch received a hefty sum in special bonuses, and they all hoped to transfer to the Hong Kong branch. Has Manager Hou heard about this...?"
Hou Baolong gave a light cough and replied,
"Some employees did have thoughts like that a while ago. However, President Su doesn't need to worry; our company's general salary and benefits are already at the very top tier among similar companies in the industry. While the employees might have some thoughts in mind, it will definitely not dampen their enthusiasm for work."
Given the conditions Huayi Capital offered when recruiting traders and strategy researchers, outstanding applicants were practically streaming in an endless queue.
Therefore, competition within the trading department and market strategy department was currently extremely fierce.
If anyone harbored distracting thoughts and wanted to leave, Hou Baolong, as the supervising leader, would not offer the slightest resistance.
After all, given Huayi Capital's reputation and compensation packages in the domestic financial circle, recruiting talented traders was not difficult at all.
Moreover, as things stood, many employees in the company's strategic research department harbored strong aspirations to enter the trading department.
In other words, once a trading position opened up, filling that vacancy would be exceptionally easy.
"Having such thoughts is nothing wrong," Su Yi said. "Tell the employees that if the net asset value trend of our company's 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund can be maintained, and when we conduct the annual net asset valuation settlement at the end of the year, our fund product can still maintain the industry's number one net asset performance alongside the number one scale, everyone will receive a special bonus no smaller than what the Hong Kong branch employees received a while ago."
Before his rebirth, he had also been a working stiff struggling hard in Shanghai.
Therefore, he understood the financial aspirations of employees very well.
Moreover, in his view, feeling envious and having pursuits was not a bad thing; after all, having pursuits generates sufficient drive.
"Alright, President Su."
Hearing Su Yi's verbal promise, a smile naturally blossomed on Hou Baolong's face as he smiled and said,
"During tomorrow morning's meeting, I'll mention this to everyone so they can approach their work with even higher enthusiasm."
Keep in mind, the special bonus distributed at the Hong Kong branch a while ago came out to at least several hundred thousand yuan per person.
Without needing to guess, Hou Baolong knew: with such incentive conditions in place, everyone would undoubtedly give it their absolute all during the final few months leading up to the end of the year.
And not to mention other employees—faced with expected bonuses reaching several hundred thousand to over a million yuan, it was hard not to feel tempted.
"Oh, by the way..." Hou Baolong paused, then continued, "The scale of our company's 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund has reached a relatively massive volume. Considering market liquidity issues, under such a massive volume of capital, boosting our fund's net asset value will likely become increasingly difficult. Particularly achieving excess returns that outperform the market benchmark will probably prove even harder than before.
In the industry, let alone private equity products with a scale of 60 billion yuan, even private equity products with a scale of 30 billion yuan are extremely rare.
Furthermore, as the capital scale grows larger, our choices in investment and selection of investment opportunities become increasingly constrained by liquidity issues, leaving us with fewer and fewer options.
Therefore, I was thinking... should we consider raising a new fund product?
That way, our choices in investment opportunities would be more flexible, and currently, investor groups both inside and outside the market show extremely high interest in the fund products managed by our institution.
As long as we release news of raising a new fund product, I believe raising 10 billion or even 20 billion yuan will not encounter any problems.
Also, I've heard that in the over-the-counter market, the share-transfer premium for our 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund product has nearly reached 35%.
I feel that if the OTC premium is too high, it actually introduces unfavorable factors for the development of our 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund.
Because if too many investors take on our fund products at high premiums, it implies that their holding costs are exorbitant.
Under such circumstances, once our fund's subsequent net asset performance falls short of expectations due to capital volume and market liquidity constraints... it could easily damage investor perception of our company's reputation.
However, if we restrict the OTC share transfers of our primary 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund product while simultaneously opening a new, smaller-scale fund product, and use the rapid appreciation of the new fund's net asset value to demonstrate our institution's investment prowess and continue creating new performance myths, then these hidden dangers can be completely resolved."
"Regarding the OTC premium share transfers of our fund product..." Su Yi said, "this is not something we can control. OTC trading is a private transaction matter between the clients who invest in us and other buyers.
If we forcibly intervene and stipulate that shares holding our fund cannot be transferred over-the-counter, it would run counter to the various subscription terms established when 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' was founded, violating the spirit of contract.
Furthermore, our 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund product does not allow investors to force a redemption during the lock-up period.
If we were to also block the path of OTC share transfers, what would investors do if they urgently needed cash?
Generally speaking, OTC share transfers are private transactions between clients, and the so-called premium issue has nothing to do with our institution.
Even if issues arise later, they cannot be brought to our company's doorstep.
Moreover, whether it is fund investment or stock investment, indirect investment or direct trading in the financial markets, there is always a principle of bearing one's own risks and losses for returns.
We have never claimed that the fund products we manage will never experience net asset pullbacks and losses under any circumstances.
Therefore, the associated responsibilities here do not fall back onto our company.
As for what you mentioned regarding 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' growing ever larger in capital scale—making net asset appreciation harder due to market liquidity and opportunity selection, and reducing flexibility— while these objective factors do exist, subjectively speaking, we still possess the capability to continue handling it well.
Take Berkshire, a globally renowned fund; isn't its scale massive? Yet under such a colossal scale, hasn't its net asset trajectory still achieved continuous growth, persistently outperforming the US stock market index and earning the long-term trust of countless investors worldwide?
Why can't we treat the 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund product as our company's flagship product, running it like another Berkshire?
In the financial markets, small capital has small-capital advantages, and large capital has large-capital advantages. In our investments and operations, we must sometimes know how to maximize our strengths and circumvent our weaknesses.
Of course, the few points you just mentioned also hold a certain degree of logic.
I know that our company's reputation and influence in the industry are currently soaring.
There are countless investors inside and outside the market who trust us.
Yet regarding the issuance of a new fund product, I believe the timing is not right, nor is it necessary.
Let's wait until the overall market landscape improves, our company's trading team construction advances further, and surplus trading groups are available to support a new fund product before discussing it.
For now, I still hope Manager Hou and all the traders in our company can focus their energy on their current work and strive to polish the performance of the 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund.
The famous ancient military strategist Han Xin had the historical allusion of commanding troops from a high platform—the more, the merrier.
I hope Manager Hou can likewise emulate the ancient general Han Xin, remaining unconstrained by the size of the capital volume while consistently seizing market main-theme investment opportunities and driving the performance of the 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund ever higher.
I hope that in the future, the 'Huayi Expedition No. 1' fund product can break through its constraints in scale, reaching a scale of 100 billion yuan, 200 billion yuan, or even higher."
From the very beginning of the company's establishment, Su Yi intended to forge the "Huayi Expedition No. 1" fund product
as the flagship product of the firm.
He wanted countless investors and industry peers across the domestic financial sphere to think of this specific fund product whenever "Huayi Capital" was mentioned.
He wanted "Huayi Expedition No. 1" to become a legendary product in the domestic asset management industry.
Only in this way...
with the reputation and demonstration effect forged by the "Huayi Expedition No. 1" fund, would investors both inside and outside the market continue to flock to them during future new fund issuances, scrambling and fighting to hand their money over to their institution for management.
"Understood, President Su."
Hou Baolong gave a prompt acknowledgment after listening to Su Yi's analysis.
Although his proposal did not win Su Yi's endorsement, being compared by Su Yi to the ancient Han Xin still brought a great deal of joy to his heart.
As the saying goes, a scholar dies for one who truly appreciates him.
For Su Yi to place such trust in him and validate his working capability made him feel exceptionally moved and grateful.
"Alright, let's leave it at that for today." Su Yi looked at Hou Baolong, smiled, and said, "Our company is currently at a juncture of rapid expansion and rapid development; Manager Hou need not worry about lacking future opportunities to showcase your abilities. There will be many, many occasions where your services are needed down the road."
Catching Su Yi's gaze, Hou Baolong nodded with a hint of bashfulness before stepping out of the office.
After Hou Baolong left, Su Yi continued tidying up the documents on his desk, gave a few instructions to Lin Xiaoxiao—who was now the company's assistant general manager—and then walked out of the company.
As he reached the elevator lobby,
he noticed Chen Anaran standing alone waiting for the elevator. He smiled and asked,
"How does it feel on your second day of work? Are you getting used to it?"
"Pr—President Su."
Seeing Su Yi, Chen Anaran looked slightly restrained and replied with a smile,
"It's pretty good."
Ever since learning Su Yi's true identity, she found it hard to connect Su Yi with the young figure walking alongside her on the journey back in her memories.
Moreover, the person had now become the boss of the company she worked for, a multi-billionaire worth tens or hundreds of billions.
It made it even harder for her to view him on equal terms in her heart.
"No need to be so restrained," Su Yi continued with a smile. "Our company isn't that rigidly hierarchical."
"Mhm." Chen Anaran nodded. After a moment of thought, she added, "President Su, my older sister mentioned some things about my cousin to me. Thank you."
"I should be the one thanking you all," Su Yi said. "Has your cousin's health improved at all recently?"
Chen Anaran replied,
"She moved to an independent ward and started using some imported medication; her health has improved slightly."
"That's good." Su Yi nodded slightly, stepped into the elevator with her, and asked, "Are you currently living in the dormitory arranged by the company, or..."
Chen Anaran answered,
"I'm living with my older sister."
"That's quite a distance from the company, then."
Knowing roughly the district where her sister rented an apartment, Su Yi smiled and asked,
"Why not live in the company-arranged dormitory?"
He knew that working in Shanghai carried high rental costs.
Therefore, as a company benefit, he had arranged free accommodation for all active employees of the company.
Naturally, the residential properties used for this were provided free of charge by President Lei of "Jingcheng Holdings" to express gratitude for Su Yi's past help in securing group control of Jingcheng Holdings.
Chen Anaran replied,
"It's not easy for my sister to get by in Shanghai alone; I figured living together would allow me to help her out a bit."
"You can have your sister move in to live with you there, then." Su Yi smiled and suggested, "The company didn't say the arranged dorms don't allow relatives and family members to live together."
"Ah?"
Hearing Su Yi's words, Chen Anaran was stunned for a moment before reacting.
"You can submit an application to Manager Yang Jie of the administrative department another day and ask her to approve a two-bedroom-one-living-room accommodation for you," Su Yi said. "The company has this type of benefit; as long as you report the actual situation, the admin department will approve it. Since you've come to the company, you should fully understand the company's welfare system and make good use of it."
He was never afraid of employees taking advantage of the company.
As long as the company had a corresponding welfare system and the employee was a regular staff member, they deserved to enjoy the corresponding benefits.
What's more, among the residential properties allocated by President Lei of Jingcheng Holdings for employee dormitories, there were still plenty of vacant units.
"Thank you, President Su."
A bright sparkle lit up in Chen Anaran's eyes as she expressed her thanks with renewed excitement.
Su Yi smiled. Seeing that the elevator had reached the ground floor, he stepped out, waved goodbye to her, and then departed accompanied by his bodyguards and driver.
Chen Anaran watched Su Yi's retreating figure in deep thought.
Suddenly, she felt that choosing Huayi Capital and deciding to stay was perhaps the most correct decision she had ever made.
(End of Chapter)