Li Quansheng, the deputy general manager of CMS Asset Management Company, has resigned for personal reasons, and his successor is Zhang Shaohua, who previously served as the deputy general manager of Shenwan Hongyuan. Li Quansheng performed excellently during his tenure at Bosera Asset Management and was a star fund manager. Zhang Shaohua will be responsible for equity research and investment at CMS Asset Management, while Li Quansheng will enter the private equity sector. This personnel change has sparked market attention on the equity strength of CMS Asset Management

China Merchants Securities Asset Management Company (hereinafter referred to as "CMSC"), which once had top equity investment talents in the brokerage asset management sector, has welcomed changes in its key positions.

On January 9th, CMSC announced that its Deputy General Manager Li Quansheng has resigned for "personal reasons."

Li Quansheng previously served as the General Manager of the Equity Investment Department at Bosera Asset Management, where he was a well-known star fund manager in the industry.

With Li Quansheng's departure, his successor has also "emerged."

Zhang Shaohua, who previously served as the Deputy General Manager (investment research direction) at Shenwan Hongyuan Asset Management and switched to Bank of China International during a personnel shake-up at Shenwan Hongyuan, has stood out.

It is reported that Zhang Shaohua will take up the position of Assistant General Manager at CMSC (executive level) and will oversee equity investment research at CMSC, while Li Quansheng will enter the private equity sector to start his personal asset management career.

The changes between the outgoing and incoming personnel raise curiosity about how CMSC's equity strength will shift.

"Big Name" Li Quansheng

Li Quansheng's "status" can be seen from his resume.

He obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biochemistry from Peking University in July 1998 and July 2001, respectively, making him a solid "post-70s" individual.

Additionally, he served as an analyst at the Research and Development Center of China Merchants Securities from July 2001 to December 2003, becoming one of the early analysts in China's sell-side research community, with significant qualifications.

From December 2003 to March 2006, he served as an Assistant Fund Manager in the Investment Management Department at Yinhua Fund, which was enough to prove his strength within the research team during that era.

After 2006, Li Quansheng joined Bosera Asset Management during its "peak period," becoming one of the key members of the star value team. After 2013, he took over from Sun Zhanjun as the fund manager of the Bosera Select Fund, succeeding this "star product" of Bosera.

The latter has had several outstanding fund managers such as Chen Feng, Yu Yang, and Ma Le in its history and shone brightly during Li Quansheng's tenure.

Perhaps also due to Li Quansheng's performance with the Bosera Select Fund, he later rose to become the General Manager of the Stock Investment Department at Bosera Fund, becoming one of the spokespersons for Bosera's equity investment after Deng Xiaofeng.

Transition to CMSC

The rise of several outstanding equity investment "highlands" (companies) in mainland China is largely related to the relaxed, respectful, and inclusive research culture fostered by the company's first General Manager.

However, as time goes by, larger asset management companies tend to develop towards strengthening "norms," "processes," and "management." This cultural "incompatibility" and transition often lead to a "reshuffling" and "blood change" of the company's research backbone.

At the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, along with several veteran fund managers, Li Quansheng left public funds to join brokerage asset management The announcement shows that he joined CMS in October 2020; from May 2021, he officially served as the Deputy General Manager of CMS Asset Management Co., Ltd.

After that, he stayed at CMS Asset Management for nearly 4 years until his recent departure.

"Veteran" Zhang Shaohua Joins

With the departure of Li Quansheng, CMS Asset Management clearly needs a veteran capable of "leading" the equity team.

At this time, Zhang Shaohua appeared.

From his resume, Zhang Shaohua is likely to have a longer career experience than Li Quansheng.

Zhang Shaohua obtained a master's degree in quantitative economics from Fudan University in 1999. In an era when even index funds were not well understood, Zhang Shaohua began studying quantitative economics.

After graduation, most of Zhang Shaohua's experience was within the Shenwan system. In 1999, he became a member of Shenwan Securities. In 2003, with Shenwan Securities officially initiating the establishment of Shenwan Paris Fund (the predecessor of Shenwan Lingxin), a team was formed internally to establish the fund company, and Zhang Shaohua also entered the public fund industry at that time.

Different Paths, Same Goal: "Investment"

Zhang Shaohua and Li Quansheng's growth paths are not the same; the latter has long been engaged in investment research work, while Zhang Shaohua has been involved in risk control business for a long time.

His resume shows that before February 2010, he worked at the risk management headquarters of Shenwan Paris Fund, until he served as the director of the risk management headquarters.

In February 2010, he transitioned to serve as the Deputy Director of the Investment Management Department of Shenwan Paris and simultaneously began serving as a fund manager, thus stepping into the investment research business of public funds.

Jumping from other departments (risk control, quantitative, statistics, etc.) to investment research positions is not particularly "cross-border" in the securities and fund industry. Chen Xiaosheng, the current chairman of Shenwan Lingxin, also did not hold an investment research position early in his career at Shenwan Securities; he was involved in planning coordination headquarters and risk office-related positions, but later smoothly transitioned to become the general manager (i.e., "director") of the then-leading Shenwan Research Institute.

In terms of timing, Zhang Shaohua became a fund manager nearly 2 years earlier than Li Quansheng, but he spent a considerable amount of time engaged in index funds and classified products, so Li Quansheng got an early start in active equity management.

In financial institutions, many matters resonate with the same "rhythm." Zhang Shaohua, who became a fund manager two years earlier than Li Quansheng, also left his familiar "comfort zone" earlier.

In 2019, Zhang Shaohua "switched" to the public fund sector of Bank of China International as the Deputy General Manager in charge of investment research at Shenwan Lingxin, and subsequently remained relatively low-profile.

His formal appearance did not occur until he joined CMS Asset Management and took on an executive position.

Personnel Background of CMS Asset Management

As Li Quansheng and Zhang Shaohua take turns in executive positions, CMS Asset Management is also undergoing a rare personnel change in recent years.

On July 24, 2024, Yang Yang left the position of General Manager of CMS Asset Management due to work adjustments, and Yi Weidong took over as the company's General Manager On December 6, 2024, Xiong Zhigang resigned as Compliance Director due to a job transfer; Ren Xiaowei was appointed as the new director.

On December 23, 2024, Xiong Zhigang again resigned as Vice Chairman and Director of CMS Asset Management due to a job transfer.

On December 23, 2024, Tang Jiaqiang resigned as Financial Officer due to a job transfer; Xu Yong was appointed as the new Financial Officer.

On January 9, 2025, Li Quansheng resigned as Deputy General Manager of CMS Asset Management.

According to the recruitment prospectus released in mid-2024, the senior management of CMS Asset Management at that time included Director and General Manager Yang Yang, Vice Chairman and Compliance Director Xiong Zhigang, Deputy General Managers Li Quansheng, Zhang Yafei, and Zong Peng, Chief Risk Officer Xiao Ling, Financial Officer and Board Secretary Tang Jiaqiang, among others.

The current executive team has changed significantly compared to the executive team announced in mid-2024.

The concentrated personnel changes may not necessarily be related to the replacement of the head of equity business at CMS Asset Management, but they are sufficient to serve as a backdrop for these changes, prompting external speculation.

Where to Go in the Future

Wind data shows that as of the end of September 2024, the total public offering scale of CMS Asset Management was 40.28 billion yuan, with nearly 500 million yuan in non-monetary funds, indicating significant growth potential compared to peers.

Such performance and fluctuations are interestingly reflected in its personnel changes.

Li Quansheng and Zhang Shaohua are both seasoned veterans in the public offering industry, having struggled in this field for many years. Their job transitions are, to some extent, a microcosm of a generation of fund managers in China.

Early on, they "debuted" from research, risk control, or quantitative departments, and after more than a decade of hard work, they became fund managers. After achieving remarkable performance, they gradually entered the senior management of public offering institutions, but even so, they could not fully control their destinies.

Zhang Shaohua came to CMS Asset Management after several "contracts" in the public offering and brokerage asset management sectors.

His "predecessor," Li Quansheng, left to enter the more autonomous and challenging private equity industry.

From an investment perspective, both Li Quansheng and Zhang Shaohua are now in their forties, the age that Munger referred to as the time when one can "understand value investing."

However, it is quite curious to see how they will perform in their new positions.

Risk Warning and Disclaimer

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