Now, you can still find the introduction of LIU Qingshan on many websites: the first generation star fund manager of China, participated in the preparation and establishment of China Asset Management and Xiangcai Hefeng Fund Management (the predecessor of Manulife Teda Fund Management), and also was the general manager of it. In 2015, LIU Qingshan devoted himself to Private Offering Fund. After more than two years of adaptation and exploration, he has opened up a new world, and the boundary of this world is still expanding.

Watching boom and bust of the Public Offering Fund industry's market, and turning to the vast Private Offering Fund industry

2014 was a historical turning point for Private Offering Fund industry. At the beginning of the year, a number of new regulations were introduced, and Private Offering Fund was officially brought into regulation, opening the way of Private Offering Fund independent issuance. In the second half of the year, the secondary market continued to pick up, with the best of timing, platform, People and all three at the same time, prompting LIU Qingshan, a Public Offering Fund "veteran" and general manager of Manulife TEDA Fund, to make up his mind to start a new journey.

The future is bright, the road is bumpy. WellSpring was officially established in May 2015. In the face of the sharp rise and the imminent decline the market, LIU Qingshan was also somewhat unexpected and had to wait for a turn. At that time, many newly established private equity products suffered liquidation, while Wellspring's products not only had limited withdrawal, but also grew rapidly after the market stabilized. All these are inseparable from LIU Qingshan's years of accumulated investment experience.

"Mainly because the risk is well controlled, we survived. This is the most important thing, live to have a future. After two years of being recognized by the market, 2018 should be a harvest year for Wellspring." LIU Qingshan is full of confidence. In 2017, the market style tended to value investment, the overall performance of public funds was excellent, while the private performance of "public offering" was better, Wellspring was one of the best.

Looking back at the past two years, in LIU Qingshan's view, every little bit is a precious accumulation. "The goal of Private Offering Fund is very simple, that is, to make money for investors. The interests of investors are your starting point, and everything revolves around this. The industry is also constantly reshuffling. Without the right investment philosophy, the sustainability and volatility of performance are difficult to control. Like the people in Private Offering Fund, which we have worked in Public Offering Fund for many years, we still hope that the industry to keep evolving, keep improving ourself and our understanding of investment. We also know very well what money can be made and what money cannot be made."

LIU Qingshan is confident about the future of the asset management industry. He believes that there will be more and more room for the industry to grow in the future. After the introduction of the new regulations on asset management in 2017, the arbitrage model has been further suppressed and the need of net worth products has increased. Professional institutions that really do investment will be sought after, which is a big opportunity for the whole industry.

Focusing on concept identification, creating the unique model

The whole team is united in thought, united in purpose and united in action, just like one person, which is particularly evident in the Private Offering Fund field. The fund manager not only makes investment decisions, but also determines the operation mode and development direction of the whole company with his management philosophy. But for LIU Qingshan, a former star fund manager and a later Public Offering Fund general manager, he is adept at both.

LIU Qingshan does not subscribe to gaming to win, and usually does think closer to the source. "The essence of investment is the future cash flow, looking for some enterprises that really generate free cash flow, which can cover the risk and achieve the return and risk matching. We want to make money from the enterprises without going for gaming money or making money from our rivals. That's our long-term thinking."

Regarding the choice of investment targets, LIU Qingshan said, first of all, the industry and enterprises should be able to look at two to three years, too long may not be clear. Secondly, we will pay attention to the competition situation and the development space of the entire industry. Companies must grow internally rather than by extension. Finally, buy at the right price. "In addition to these criteria, we will also pass on good enterprises if they are too expensive. We aim to achieve our clients' objectives, not necessarily to make the most money, but to be sustainable and profitable."

"We only invest in the industries which are bullish in the long term, and we don't make all the money. You can definitely find good enterprises in those areas such as high-end manufacturing, consumer upgrading, medical and electronics." Mr. LIU explained, "Essentially, it's the snowball concept of Warren E. Buffett, where the slope has to be long enough and the snow thick enough, which for enterprises means the 'moat' has to be wide enough so that the snowball can roll bigger and bigger. For example, if you invest a penny at the beginning, you can earn a dime and a yuan down the road, and the further you go, the more you earn, and you should make such investments. So, our turnover rate is extremely low and staged opportunities don't mean much to us."

In LIU Qingshan's view, while “constant money” is well, concept identification is even more important.

"We focus on finding the money that matches our investment philosophy," Mr. LIU said, "We have also approached some clients, they were not satisfied with steady appreciation, wanted long-term sustained high returns, wanted us to take advantage of any opportunity, later I found that it was not suitable for working together, so we broke up."

The spring of rational investment has come, focusing on efficiency-driven

At the beginning of 2018, in a letter to investors, LIU Qingshan summed up his view in one sentence: The spring of rational investment has come.

With the aftermath of the "Nifty Fifty" still rippling in 2017, Wellspring Capital has proposed a new annual keyword: efficiency-driven. According to LIU Qingshan, the marginal changes in aggregate economic growth, changes in liquidity and strengthening of risk appetite, which affect the overall market environment, are weakening. Against the background of insignificant systemic risks and opportunities and limited aggregate logic, the core long-term factors affecting the market have switched to efficiency-driven. As a result, the attractiveness of equity markets will increase significantly in 2018, while consumer services and high-end manufacturing sectors will stand out.

Specific to the investment strategy level, LIU Qingshan believes that the market is expected to transform from a two-wheeled valuation-earnings drive to an earnings-driven one. As for medium - and long-term deterministic investment opportunities, LIU Qingshan believes that equity assets are the most significant, with healthcare, consumer services, precision manufacturing and technology continuing to lead the way, while the relative returns of heavy capital industries have lagged significantly.

LIU Qingshan believes that in 2018, do not dwell on the style switch of small and large stocks, but should focus on the following points of differentiation: the differentiation of earnings and valuation matching, the differentiation of high quality assets and poor quality assets, the differentiation of performance certainty and performance uncertainty assets, and the differentiation of their Own hematopoietic assets and external hematopoietic assets.

Spring is a season of sowing seeds, but also a season full of hope. After two years of steady development, Wellspring is experiencing a "big year" of scale expansion. In addition to LIU Qingshan, the company's investment and research department has two other prominent figures, respectively, investment director WU Junfeng and research director ZHAO Qunyi, both of whom have more than ten years of investment experience. WU Junfeng used to be the general manager of Teda Manulife Investment Department, managing nearly 10 billion yuan of capital scale, long-term performance excellent; ZHAO Qunyi was previously head of research at Teda Manulife, when he managed products that won long-term equity fund excellence awards. As colleagues who have been working side by side for a long time, the three investment leaders have the same concept and know each other very well, forming an unbreakable "iron triangle" of investment and research, leading the implementation of daily investment decisions.

As for the construction of investment and research teams, LIU Qingshan tends to recruit outstanding young people to cultivate themselves. LIU Qingshan has stressed more than once that it is necessary to do something that can be copied. "You have to turn art into a commodity, into an industrialized thing, and mass production can form a business model." He believes that if you directly dig up mature talents in the market, you may bear the risk that the concept does not fit. If you train from scratch, you can turn good experience and ideas into standards and procedures, not relying solely on individuals, but the whole system works together, and the investment and research team is twisted into a rope and works for a common goal.

"Don't set boundaries for yourself, so you can go far and do big," Mr. LIU said. " Investors are getting smarter and they want to see real strengths, not speculation, and that is what we are striving for in the long run. "

In our conversation with LIU Qingshan, the word "efficiency" was repeatedly mentioned. "In terms of investment, we always aim to do something simple and efficient, and the more we do it, the more effective it becomes." In terms of life's ambitions, the efficient pursuit of a happy life is also a goal that LIUQingshan insists on. LIU Qingshan said, "You have to treat investment as a happy thing, not as a painful thing. If you want to do a lifetime of investing like Warren Buffett, a healthy body and an optimistic mindset are both essential." In his daily life, LIU Qingshan pays attention to the balance between work and life, He often plays badminton and climbs mountains, so that his career is colorful and his life is enjoyable.

"Life is very short, and the best life is to leave no regrets. It makes sense to think clearly about what your values are, what you can accept and what you can give up, and then step by step to achieve your goals," LIU Qingshan smiled lightly.