Tianhong Asset Management

Tianhong Asset Management Co., Ltd. is a Chinese asset management company founded in 2004. From 2014 it was considered the largest asset management company in China until 2021.[1][2] Its most notable product is the Tianhong Yu'e Bao fund which at one point was the world's largest money market fund.[3]

History

Tianhong Asset Management was set up on 8 November 2004.[4]

In October 2013, the Alibaba Group acquired a 51% stake in the company for 1.18 billion RMB from its original shareholders, Tianjin Trust, Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy & Chemical Group and Wuhu High-tech Investment.[5][6][7][8] The company would be under the Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba.[7][8] However, in 2014 there was a dispute between Ant Financial and Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy & Chemical Group on the treatment of Tianhong's retained profits per the deal agreement.[7][8] Ant Financial announced it had initiated arbitration action by applying to the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission.[7][9] In February 2015, the court ruled in favour of Ant Financial.[8]

In June 2013, Alipay launched a financial product platform called Yu'e Bao (余额宝).[10] Tianhong would partner with Alipay to launch Yu'e Bao to the public by allowing Alipay customers convert the idle cash in their accounts into units of a money market fund.[10][11][12] The product would be known as the Tianhong Yu'e Bao fund.[13] Due to the popularity of the fund, Tianhong became the largest asset management company in China.[11] In 2019, it was reported it was the world's largest money market fund, with over 588 million users, or more than a third of China's population, contributing cash to it.[13][3] However, by 2020, it was no longer the world's largest money market fund due to tighter regulation and growing competition.[14]

On 9 September 2023, Tianhong Asset Manager announced that Wang Dengfeng, the portfolio manager of the Yu'e Bao fund for over 10 years would resign from his role.[15] The fund afterwards would be jointly managed by three portfolio managers.[16]

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