Mutual fund institutions have maintained a high level of enthusiasm for participating in offline placements of new shares. On January 15, Zhixin Co., Ltd. officially commenced trading on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. An examination of the preliminary offline placement results from the company's initial public offering (IPO) reveals significant participation from mutual fund institutions, which collectively secured over 50% of the total offline placement value. According to the relevant announcement, Zhixin Co., Ltd.'s issuance price was set at 21.88 yuan per share. This price corresponds to a diluted price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 26.85 times for 2024, calculated based on the lower of the figures before and after deducting non-recurring gains and losses. Notably, this P/E ratio is lower than both the average static P/E ratio for the company's industry over the past month, as published by China Securities Index Co., Ltd., and the average static P/E ratio (after deducting non-recurring items) for comparable companies within the same industry for 2024. Furthermore, based on the issuance price, the total funds raised by Zhixin Co., Ltd. in this offering amounted to approximately 1.24 billion yuan. After deducting relevant issuance expenses, the net proceeds were about 1.127 billion yuan, which will be primarily allocated to expanding production capacity and technological upgrades for its stamping and welding production lines, as well as supplementing working capital. Data from mutual fund ranking platforms indicates that a total of 87 mutual fund institutions participated in and successfully obtained allocations in Zhixin Co., Ltd.'s offline placement. Together, they were allotted approximately 4.6769 million shares, with a total allocation value of around 102 million yuan, accounting for 52.58% of the total offline placement value. A detailed breakdown shows that 16 institutions received allocations valued at less than 100,000 yuan, while 52 institutions received allocations ranging from 100,000 yuan to 990,000 yuan. Another 19 institutions received allocations valued at or exceeding 1 million yuan. Among them, E Fund Management Co., Ltd. led the pack with an allocation value of 11.8291 million yuan, corresponding to 540,600 shares. China Southern Asset Management Co., Ltd. followed closely with an allocation value of 10.1224 million yuan for 462,600 shares. ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co., Ltd. ranked third, securing an allocation value of 9.2211 million yuan for 421,400 shares. Additionally, allocations for institutions such as Fullgoal Fund, China Asset Management Co., Ltd., and China Merchants Fund all exceeded 5 million yuan, reflecting the proactive positioning of leading mutual fund houses. Commenting on this trend, Li Chunyu, an FOF fund manager at Shenzhen Rongzhi Private Securities Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd., stated that this conveys several positive signals. "First, it demonstrates that mutual fund institutions have a stronger certainty regarding the returns from subscribing to new shares, viewing them as a potential source of relatively stable returns for their investment portfolios. Second, it reflects a positive outlook among mutual fund institutions on future market performance and economic recovery trends, which helps boost overall market confidence. Third, the participation of mutual fund institutions with professional investment research capabilities in the issuance pricing process helps promote reasonable corporate pricing, guides more efficient capital allocation, and lays a solid foundation for annual investment strategies." Li Yiming, a senior analyst at Morningstar (China) Fund Research Center, analyzed that this phenomenon is a manifestation of the market's development towards institutionalization and specialization. "Professional investors, represented by mutual fund institutions, are becoming core participants in new share pricing and placement by leveraging their compliance, risk control systems, and investment research advantages, thereby continuously enhancing their pricing influence. This trend also reflects the increasing maturity of the market's pricing mechanism," Li Yiming said. When discussing how mutual fund institutions can improve the accuracy of their pricing for offline new share subscriptions in the future, Li Yiming suggested that they need to build a pricing system centered on in-depth investment research. Before submitting quotations, institutions should focus on analyzing industry prospects, the core competitiveness of the listed company, and its financial quality. For valuation, a combination of absolute and relative valuation methods should be used for cross-verification, benchmarking against peer companies. Information obtained through roadshow communications and on-site due diligence should be used to refine earnings forecasts, thereby establishing a reasonable valuation range. Simultaneously, institutions should continuously track the post-listing performance and fundamental changes of the target companies, dynamically optimizing valuation models and screening criteria to enhance quotation accuracy and long-term returns from new share subscriptions. Looking ahead to 2026, the research team at CITIC Securities believes that against a backdrop of improving regulations and stable market structures, returns from offline new share subscriptions will remain steady. They forecast that "new share" subscription returns for Class A accounts (primarily comprising mutual funds and social security funds) with a scale of 200 million yuan will be approximately 3% to 4%.
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