Perhaps many people are unfamiliar with Hillhouse Capital and Zhang Lei, but you must know or have used WeChat, Douyin, Baidu, Meituan, Didi Dache, Mobike, JD... and There is a common shareholder behind them - Hillhouse Capital - Asia's largest private equity management fund.
Why is Hillhouse Capital able to accurately invest in so many star companies and achieve extraordinary achievements? I think there are both opportunities given by the times and factors of its founder Zhang Lei.
In terms of opportunities of the times, Hillhouse Capital and Zhang Lei caught up with the great era of China’s rise and rejuvenation, and keenly seized the opportunities given by the times. In Zhang Lei’s own words, Hillhouse’s investment The key is to "weight China" and be firmly optimistic about China's future development. I think when Hillhouse Capital uses hundreds of billions of real money to practice this investment philosophy, this is definitely not an empty talk. Coincidentally, someone once asked Buffett on the other side of the ocean the secret of his investment success. His answer was that he was lucky to live in the United States. In the second half of the last century, the United States established its position as the world's hegemon after overthrowing the Soviet Union. Its national power far exceeded that of other countries. The booming social and economic development naturally spread to the market. It can be seen that only great times can breed great investors. Will the next great era be in China? I think, yes!
Of course, in addition to the macro-era background, the secret of Hillhouse’s success is inseparable from Zhang Lei’s own experience and talent. From a young boy in Zhumadian, Henan, to a top student at Yale University, I have to say that a person's intelligence and talent are indeed very helpful to success. Zhang Lei was even more fortunate to be able to meet and study under David Swenson in the Yale University Investment Office, systematically study and practice value investing, and accumulate investment experience and network resources, which laid a solid foundation for the subsequent success of Hillhouse Capital. Foundation (Hillhouse’s first investment was given by the Yale University Investment Office).
I believe that the reason why Hillhouse has achieved far greater achievements than other private equity funds lies in Zhang Lei’s structure and vision of integrating China and the West. Generally, investment institutions, after discovering the value of a company, will only invest and wait for returns. Hillhouse, on the other hand, goes one step further and "creates value while discovering value." That is, after investing in a company, it will empower the company through its own in-depth research on the industry and invested companies, connect various resources, and help the company become more innovative. development, thereby helping enterprises create value. I think this is the secret to Hillhouse’s success, and this secret cannot be learned by ordinary investment institutions. This requires not only professional and profound industry research capabilities, but also unique human resources, which cannot be acquired overnight.
And the aspect of "creating value" is also particularly admirable. It enables Hillhouse Capital to break away from the paradigm of general investment institutions investing in arbitrage without creating any value. Hillhouse Capital helps investee companies grow in an all-round way through the empowerment of capital and various resources. This coincides with the current development philosophy of the country to suppress the real estate market and guide capital into the real economy to support high-tech enterprises and seek industrial upgrading. It can be said that Hillhouse Capital and Zhang Lei have perfectly integrated the realization of personal value with the trend of social development. I think there should be no career with more happiness and sense of accomplishment than this.
The success of Berkshire Hathaway on the other side of the ocean is largely due to the fact that Buffett invested in several major U.S. insurance giants in his early years, taking advantage of the low interest rates and low interest rates of insurance float. The delayed compensation feature provides huge low-cost investment funds. It can be seen that every famous martial arts school has its own secret.
Back to this book, Zhang Lei wants to convey the concepts and theories of value investing more, so if you want to master the secrets of investing and getting rich by reading this book, it will probably make you fall into the "you I understand all the principles he talks about, but I still can’t live this life well”. Moreover, as an investor, entrepreneur, and founder, Zhang Lei not only talks about his investment experience in this book, but also talks about his understanding of corporate governance and the review and persistence of his original intention to start a business. .
If we have to say, this book can have any guiding significance for ordinary investors. I think there are three main points:
1. From a general perspective, be firmly optimistic about China and be long on China. Remain rationally optimistic about investing in high-quality assets in China.
2. Be a friend of time, adhere to long-termism, and do not be disturbed by short-term market fluctuations.
3. The most important thing is to maintain rational honesty, recognize the huge capability gap between ordinary investors and professional investment institutions, and let professional people do professional things. Instead of hearing all kinds of gossip, following various short-term investment hot spots, or choosing investment targets based on your own feelings, why not copy the work of Hillhouse. Think about Hillhouse's professional team, professional investment research talents with annual salaries of millions, and hundreds of millions or even tens of billions of real money. Don't the investment targets they screen out deserve our better research and selection?
Of course, the connotation of this book is by no means limited to this. It also includes the author’s insights on life, his elaboration of the ethical standards of trustees, his enthusiasm for educational investment, etc. These are all very admirable. , I won’t go into too much detail here. Friends who are interested can take the time to read the original text, I believe you will definitely gain something.
Author: Zhengqing
Recommend this book "Value" by Zhang Lei