DOMESTIC investors placed orders worth US$16 billion over one day into a new equity fund launched by the firm of a star stock picker, betting it can continue to outperform the market.

Shanghai-based Foresight Fund, founded by Chen Guangming, announced Friday it plans to allocate 9.8 percent of the orders for the new 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) fund.

That means the new product, only the third offered by the company, fetched 102 billion yuan in total subscriptions, according to calculations. Chen will not manage the new fund, which will be run by Rao Gang, according to a filing.

It’s not the first time China’s investing masses have piled into Foresight Fund’s products based on Chen’s past performance record and his choice of money managers.

The first fund, Foresight Growth Value Mixed Fund, lured US$10 billion in orders within 10 hours in 2019.

It has returned 105 percent since its inception in March of that year up to the close of trading Thursday, according to data compiled. That compares with a 16 percent gain on the Shanghai Composite Index during the same period.

The second one, Foresight Balanced Value 3-Year Maturity Mixed Fund that attracted US$17 billion worth of bids in a day, has returned 64 percent since it was formally launched in February 2020, also beating the Shanghai benchmark.

The influx of orders for the latest fund prompted the firm to close subscriptions earlier than expected, according to a separate statement from Foresight Fund. The fund was scheduled to open for orders from Dec. 2-8.

Chen started his career in 1998 as an intern at China’s State-backed Orient Securities Co., becoming an investment manager in 2001.

By 2005, Chen was head of Orient Securities’ asset management department, pushing the firm to make big, leveraged bets on stocks just as the Chinese market was putting in a major bottom.

He left Orient Securities to start Foresight Fund Management in 2018. (SD-Agencies)