China’s $941 Billion Fund Loses Third Executive Since April

(Bloomberg) -- A senior executive has left China's $941 billion sovereign wealth fund, adding to a string of recent departures among its investment professionals, according to people familiar with the matter.

Meng Chen, a team leader at Beijing-based China Investment Corp.'s direct investment arm, has resigned according to the people, who declined to be identified as the matter is private. An email to CIC's press department seeking comment wasn't immediately answered. Meng declined to comment.

CIC, among the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds, has now lost at least three executives in as many months. Susan Gao, who was in charge of global fundamental equities managing more than $10 billion, resigned in April, joining Wallace Yu, who had led the fund's multi-asset group, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Continued losses of experienced managers could undermine CIC's performance amid unprecedented volatility caused by the coronavirus outbreak. CIC is looking for more resilient assets in markets battered by the pandemic as the company seeks to boost long-term returns, Executive Vice President Zhao Haiying said in an interview last month.

A plan to boost alternative and direct investments to 50% of global assets by the end of 2022 remains unchanged, with the private portfolio having avoided any “serious damage” this year, she said. CIC set up CIC Capital in 2015 to expand direct investments in a bid to bolster returns and reduce exposure to volatility in public markets.

CIC Capital committed $4.9 billion for 24 projects in 2018, spanning infrastructure, energy, Internet, consumer and medical areas, according to that year's annual report, the latest available. That compares with $3.8 billion the previous year.

Meng extends a string of senior departures since 2017. Roslyn Zhang, who was in charge of hedge fund allocations, resigned at the end of last year. Other departures include Zhang Qing, who was executive vice president of CIC Capital, and Winston Ma Wenyan, who stepped down as head of the North America office in early 2018.

With assistance from Bloomberg