Spotlight on Colin Liang, Portfolio Manager and Head of China Research, Redwheel
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Colin Liang, Portfolio Manager, Redwheel China Equity Fund , Head of China Research, Emerging & Frontier Markets Team, Redwheel
Colin leads the five-person China research team for Redwheel’s Emerging and Frontier Markets Team as well as managing their concentrated All-China equity fund, the Redwheel China Equity Fund.
The three key areas which Colin is focused on, which present as both risks and opportunities for investors are:
1. US-China relations
Against a backdrop of structural long-term rivalry and after several years of elevated geopolitical tensions, we believe that US-China relations are currently in a benign period.
Since the start of 2023, senior government officials of both countries have communicated with each other much more frequently compared to the previous few years and, more importantly, China has placed domestic economic growth back at the top of its priority list. Additionally, the Taiwanese election scheduled to take place in early 2024 is a potential game changer.
2. Domestic policies
After removing its zero-Covid policy last December, China has seen economic growth spike and subsequently decline. Markets have been disappointed with the recovery and uncertain about the pathway to restoring growth. However, after the Politburo meeting in July, China’s domestic economic policy has switched firmly to pro-growth and we expect the government will keep rolling out supportive measures to the sectors that face growth challenges, including property.
3. Internet sector
The internet sector has once again returned to a growth trajectory, after the previous heavy regulations were lifted. The policy setting is now much more friendly to internet companies. At the same time, new internet verticals such as short videos and local services are emerging and we expect these to be the new growth engines for the sector going forward.
Given disappointing growth and a number of economic challenges, markets have focussed on when and how stimulus policies will be enacted. The Chinese government has now clearly confirmed it will support growth. Whilst these measures will likely take time to be effective, we expect to see follow-up policy announcements through August-September and also, in the 3rd Plenum in October-November, in continuation of policy easing. We believe support for the property sector will keep risks in that sector at bay, which is important for restoring consumer and private sector confidence. Consumer and internet companies are positioned to likely benefit against this backdrop.
Colin will be presenting on China equities at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Equities Investment Forum, taking place on Wednesday, 6 September 2023 at Westin Melbourne.
This event has reached capacity. If you would like more information please email zlatan.kapetanovic@globalii.com.au.
Colin Liang, Portfolio Manager, Redwheel China Equity Fund, Head of China Research, Emerging & Frontier Markets Team, Redwheel
Colin is Head of China Research and a member of the Investment Committee for the Redwheel Emerging and Frontier Markets team, and he is the Portfolio Manager of the Redwheel China Equity Fund.
Colin has 17 years of experience in investment and financial analysis, most recently at NN Investment Partners (ING Investments) where he was a portfolio manager responsible for investments in Greater China. Previously, Colin was an investment analyst at SeaTown Holdings and an equity research analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
He holds a Master of Finance degree from Lancaster University in the UK and a Bachelor of Economics degree from Tongji University in China. Colin is a native Mandarin speaker.
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