Fund managers "one-to-many," products facing full redemption withdrawals, and "mini funds" clustering—can Anxin Fund maintain its position in the "Hundred Billion Club"?

（Source: Economic Information Daily）

Recently, Anxin Fund Management Co., Ltd. released an announcement regarding changes in equity. The company’s shareholder, Guotou Securities Co., Ltd., and another shareholder, CGN Nuclear Finance Co., Ltd., signed an equity transfer agreement. Guotou Securities will take over the 5.93% equity stake in Anxin Fund held by CGN Nuclear Finance. With a shareholding ratio of 39.88%, Guotou Securities has officially become Anxin Fund’s largest shareholder, and CGN Nuclear Finance has exited the shareholder lineup.

After the company’s assets under management fell out of the “1-trillion-yuan club” at the end of 2024, Anxin Fund returned to the “1-trillion-yuan club” by the end of 2025. However, behind the impressive data there are hidden concerns. Journalists found that, amid the ongoing intensification of the “Matthew effect” in the public offering industry, Anxin Fund currently faces a series of issues, including fund managers handling “one-to-many” mandates, fund products undergoing liquidation-style redemptions, and “mini funds” clustering together. Whether Guotou Securities’ entry as the largest shareholder can help break the deadlock remains to be tested by the market.

Fixed-income contributes 90% of the incremental growth, suspected of being “inflated”

CGN Nuclear Finance’s “full sell-off” exit is not the first time. In June 2023, CGN Nuclear Finance listed and transferred its 5.93% stake in Anxin Fund on the Shenzhen United Assets and Equity Exchange at a listing price of 85 million yuan, but no potential transferee was collected. In November 2023, CGN Nuclear Finance listed its equity stake for transfer again, with the listing price lowered to 76.5 million yuan. The listing period ended in June 2024, but the transfer still ended in a failed auction due to lack of bids.

According to data from Tonghuashun iFinD, as of the end of June 2023, Anxin Fund had a total of 84 funds, with combined scale of 124.19 billion yuan. Among them, 11 equity funds had 8.61B yuan in aggregate, 47 hybrid funds had 62.06B yuan in aggregate, 21 bond funds had 33B yuan in aggregate, and 3 money market funds had 20.42B yuan in aggregate. There was 1 FOF fund and 1 alternative investment fund, with scales of 51M yuan and 53M yuan, respectively.

From quarterly report data, Anxin Fund’s assets under management increased to 125.73B yuan by the end of September 2023, and then entered a period of scale contraction. By the end of December 2024, Anxin Fund’s assets under management fell to 99.28B yuan, dropping out of the “1-trillion-yuan club.” By the end of March 2025, June 2025, and September 2025, the figures fell further to 94.53B yuan, 94.03B yuan, and 85.37B yuan, respectively. It was not until the end of December 2025 that Anxin Fund’s assets under management rebounded quickly to 105.74B yuan.

Why did Anxin Fund’s assets under management surge by 20.36B yuan only in the fourth quarter of 2025? The reporter compared Anxin Fund’s third-quarter 2025 data and found that fixed-income products served as the “backing” for the total scale growth in the fourth quarter. Money market funds and bond funds increased by 15.64B yuan and 2.83B yuan, respectively, from the third quarter. Together, they accounted for 90.67% of the total scale growth in the fourth quarter, which inevitably leads to the outside world labeling it as “inflated.”

During the period of scale contraction, Anxin Fund’s performance pressure was evident. iFinD data shows that Anxin Fund’s operating revenue reached 929 million yuan in 2022, up 36.61% year over year. After that, revenue declined year by year. In 2023, it fell 9.56% year over year to 840 million yuan; in 2024, it decreased 20.09% year over year to 672 million yuan; and in the first half of 2025, it dropped 12.17% year over year (same period last year) to 303 million yuan.

“Figurehead” roles and “one-to-many” strain scrutiny talent reserves

With performance under pressure, how did Anxin Fund’s products perform in the market? iFinD data shows that in 2025, among 172 funds with comparable prices (with different share classes counted separately, same as below), Anxin Fund had 8 products whose unit net value increase exceeded 100%, accounting for 4.71%. There were 56 fund products with unit net value increase in the 10% to 60% range, accounting for 32.56%. There were 108 fund products with unit net value increase below 10%, and only 8 fund products achieved no increase.

Compared with the returns of funds of the same category in 2025, across the whole market there were 7,990 hybrid funds, with Anxin Fund having 90 of them. Eight funds from Anxin Fund ranked within the top 2% in return level. Among 4,353 equity funds in the whole market, Anxin Fund had 20, and 2 ranked within the top 10% in return level. Among 6,683 bond funds in the whole market, Anxin Fund had 49, with nearly 60% of its products ranking within the top 50% in return level. Among 869 money market funds in the whole market, Anxin Fund had 8, with half of its products ranking within the top 50% in return level.

Previously, some products under Anxin Fund were jointly managed by “two fund managers.” The multiple products managed by fund manager Chen Zhenyu were questioned for issues such as “figurehead stage-setting” and “copying strategies.” The reporter found that Chen Zhenyu had managed 5 funds in past roles (different share classes combined), and that the stocks of Ningde Times, Guizhou Moutai, and Focus Media were each held by those 5 funds as positions. In addition, 13 other stocks appeared repeatedly in the holdings of four funds. The overlap in heavy positions also suggests that the “copying strategy” concern is not unfounded.

“Each fund manager has their own style and characteristics.” A person from Anxin Fund, interviewed by the reporter of Economic Information Daily, said that during the joint management period of Anxin Value Growth Hybrid A and C, Nie Shilin and Chen Zhenyu had complementary investment strategies. Anxin Fund’s deputy general manager Chen Zhenyu provided support on macro strategies. Chen Zhenyu’s resignation was, to a larger extent, a shift toward company management. Having worked in the industry for many years, fund manager Nie Shilin’s “representative works” Anxin Advantage Growth Hybrid A and C had total return of 265.85% and 258.89%, respectively.

Industry participants told the reporter that the model of co-management by “two fund managers” or “multiple fund managers” is not uncommon. Some funds clearly define each fund manager’s respective strengths and collaboration model. However, there are indeed cases where investors are attracted by fund managers who have produced excellent performance through “figurehead” roles. Individual investors generally find it difficult to determine whether “figurehead” involvement exists in a fund unless they monitor the fund managers’ investment styles, heavy-holding varieties, changes in portfolio weight, and so on over the long term.

Beyond “two fund managers,” since 2025 Anxin Fund has issued 62 announcements of fund manager changes. Star fund manager Zhang Yifei served as Anxin Fund’s deputy general manager for less than a year before stepping down from the executive management role. Most of the fund managers under the company are in a “one-to-many” state. Fund manager Huang Yanshu manages 10 fund products at the same time, while Zhang Jing, Zhang Ming, Li Jun, and Liang Bingzhe each manage 8 fund products. These issues all reflect Anxin Fund’s talent shortage predicament.

Institution full-scale selling to reduce holdings sets off liquidation risk alarm

Regardless of last year’s unit net value growth of the company’s funds, or the ranking of returns among peers, Anxin Fund’s market performance is not bad. Still, the funds are generally relatively small in scale, and “mini funds” are particularly clustered together. iFinD data shows that as of the end of December 2025, Anxin Fund had 90 funds (different share classes counted separately) with scales below 50 million yuan. In 2025, many fund products’ scale fell below the liquidation threshold. Several fund products also entered liquidation.

In March 2025, due to fund assets net value staying below 50 million yuan for 60 consecutive working days, Anxin Quantitative Preferred Stock-based Open-Ended Securities Investment Fund issued an announcement to enter liquidation. Because fund assets net value was below 200 million yuan, Anxin Hong Kong Stock Connect Select Hybrid Open-Ended Securities Investment Fund and Anxin New Energy Thematic Stock-based Open-Ended Securities Investment Fund announced entry into liquidation in April and July of the same year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the market also drew controversy when Anxin Fund’s Anxin New Growth Hybrid A was subject to a “full sell-off” redemption by a single institution. iFinD data shows that from the mid-year report of 2023 through the end of the third-quarter 2025 reports period, the proportion of Anxin New Growth Hybrid A held by a single institution was above 90%. During the reporting period of the third-quarter report, the institution reduced its holdings by 180 million shares. In the fourth quarter, it even liquidated the remaining 219 million shares.

In terms of performance, since its establishment, Anxin New Growth Hybrid A has accumulated growth of 59.05%, and its return in 2025 was 2.65%, far below the average increase of flexible allocation funds (27.23%) and the increase of the CSI 300 Index (17.66%). After being “fully sold off” by a single institution, by the end of the fourth quarter Anxin New Growth Hybrid A had only 6.6384 million shares left. Together with Anxin New Growth Hybrid C’s 6.4631 million shares, the total fund share amount was only 13.0115 million shares, and the total fund unit net value amounted to 15.15174 million yuan.

In January 2026, the fund’s updated prospectus mentioned that if, for 60 consecutive working days, the number of fund unitholders is fewer than 200 people or the fund assets net value is below 50 million yuan, the fund manager should report to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and propose solutions, such as converting the operation mode, merging with other funds, or terminating the fund contract, and convene a unitholders’ meeting to vote.

How will Anxin Fund respond to the fund liquidation crisis? “When institutional investors leave the fund products, the product scale becomes smaller. The fund manager will also assess whether the previously institution-led investment strategy is still suitable and whether it can be reactivated.” Anxin Fund personnel told the reporter that whether the investment strategy changes or not not only requires research into market demand and channel demand, but also needs sufficient data to verify it before it can be disclosed.

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