jakiro
Author: Wen Shijun
On March 18, 2015, in Paris, France, Jack Ma waved his hand when meeting with then French President François Hollande at the Elysee Palace.Image source: Visual China
“I raise chickens and pigs. Jack Ma and Yu Feng, they are chickens who can lay golden eggs.” 15 years ago, at the Yunfeng Fund founding reception, Liu Yonghao, former richest man in China and founder of New Hope Group, commented on the two founders in this way.
As the richest man in Asia, in Jack Ma’s huge industrial territory, this Yunfeng asset is a special “private land” with special treatment.Jack Ma and Yu Feng embed their respective names and jointly invested in their personal names. This is the story of the birth of “Yun Feng”.
Yunfeng Fund’s PE (private equity) business started, and now it has formed the Yunfeng system with Hong Kong-listed company Yunfeng Finance (0376.HK) as its main entity asset – Yu Feng, the actual trader, is publicly called “Jack Ma’s teammate”.
Recently, the Yunfeng Group has become active again. For example, Liang Xinjun, the former second-in-commander of Fosun International, who has been “retired” for many years, has just joined the Yunfeng Finance Board. For example, Lu Minfang, who stepped down as president of Mengniu last year, became a partner of Yunfeng Fund in a low-key manner, and obtained a digital currency trading license.
On September 9, Yunfeng Finance issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange: its subsidiary Yunfeng Securities was approved by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission the day before. It holds a securities license and has added new virtual asset trading qualifications. It can provide Bitcoin, Ethereum and other trading services through its own platform in the future.
The Yunfeng system, which was created in the capital world, has been around for 15 years now.The wheel of the times is rolling forward, and the domestic and international economic situation has also changed several times. After the sharp edge and the peaks have changed, these smart people who have been making money from the times have become active again.
After three years, I took advantage of the situation to return
The Yunfeng Group and the Alibaba Group have no direct equity affiliation, but Yunfeng Finance has also been a little silent in the capital market in the past few years.But recently it has made a comeback.
On August 28, Yunfeng Finance released its interim results for 2025, with net profit attributable to shareholders of HK$486 million, a significant increase of 142% over the same period last year.This is also the best interim results that Yunfeng Finance has delivered since the Yunfeng Group acquired Ruidong Group from Hong Kong’s “shell king” Gao Zhenshun in 2015, renamed it Yunfeng Finance to go public through a backdoor listing in Hong Kong stocks, and injected the American Wantong Insurance Asia Co., Ltd. into the listed company system in 2017.
On September 2, Yunfeng Finance issued a voluntary announcement stating that since the official announcement on July 14 that the bureau’s digital currency and other fields have used US$44 million in internal cash to purchase 10,000 Ethereum as strategic reserve assets.
All of this seems to be in the planning right now.The announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 14 was released on the official WeChat official account of Yunfeng Finance on July 15 – this is the first update of the Yunfeng Finance official account after three years of suspension of updates.
It seems that the market interprets Yunfeng Finance’s “bet on Ethereum with 300 million yuan” as “Jack Ma bought Ethereum”.As personal investments of Jack Ma and Yu Feng, the two have respectively held 40% and 60% of the shares of “Yunfeng Financial Holdings”, the parent company of the listed company Yunfeng Financial Holdings.
The specific control relationship has gone through multiple layers of nesting: According to the latest 2025 interim report data, “Yunfeng Financial Holdings” holds 91% of the shares of Key Imagination, Key Imagination holds 73.21% of Jade Passion, and Jade Passion becomes the major shareholder of Hong Kong listed company Yunfeng Financial with a shareholding ratio of 47.25%.
It is worth noting that in the latest financial report, Yu Feng’s personal shareholding ratio in “Yunfeng Financial Holdings” has changed significantly, and has risen to 70.15%.
The business relationship between Jack Ma and Yu Feng seems to be closer after finding the focus of digital currency.
The day before the official announcement of buying the virtual currency, on September 1, Yunfeng Finance officially announced two actions at one time: one was to reach a strategic cooperation with Alibaba’s Ant Digital Technology, and the other was to announce investment in the Pharos public chain founded by former core members of the Ant blockchain business.The core business of Pharos public chain is to provide technical support for the smooth “moving” of traditional assets to the blockchain.
Yunfeng Finance is licensed in Hong Kong and has the identity of a listed financial company. And Jack Ma is also a shareholder. Yunfeng Finance can obviously become one of the most trustworthy partners of Alibaba and Ant Group’s digital currency strategy.
Alumni in the capital market
The friendship between Jack Ma and Yu Feng can be traced back to at least 2006.
On April 18, 2006, 78-year-old Li Ka-shing was waiting for his guests in person in front of the elevator door on the 70th floor of the Yangtze River Building in Central, Hong Kong.On the previous day, according to Li Ka-shing’s arrangement, the invitation had been delivered to the three tables of guests attending the luncheon, and the guests were also asked to sign and confirm receipt in person.
At 11 o’clock, the elevator door opened and guests entered one after another: Fu Chengyu, general manager of CNOOC, Li Dongsheng, chairman of TCL, Guo Guangchang, chairman of Fosun, Niu Gensheng, chairman of Mengniu, Feng Lun, chairman of Wantong, Jiang Nanchun, CEO of Focus Media, Fang Hongbo, president of Midea Refrigeration… They are more than 30 “classmates” in the first CEO class of the Yangtze Business School.
This CEO class does not accept registration, only targeted invitations.Only 16 days of courses are arranged each year, and the teaching locations are distributed in Hong Kong, Philadelphia, Fontainebleau and Beijing. Although the tuition is expensive, the transportation, food and accommodation costs still need to be borne by yourself.The first lesson of the first semester was to visit Li Ka-shing in Hong Kong. As his name suggests, the word “Yangtze River” is taken from Changjiang Industry, a subsidiary of Li Ka-shing. The business school itself was also proposed and donated by Li Ka-shing.
Among the students who shook hands with Li Ka-shing one by one, the intersection and connection between two people gradually deepened – one was Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, who was in the limelight at that time. In this meeting, Li Ka-shing himself said that Jack Ma was “very famous”; the other was Yu Feng, who had just sold the company to Jiangnanchun on the eve of Juzhong Media’s listing, and was looking for a new direction after completing the “cash-out”.
In February 2007, Yu Feng resigned as co-chairman of Focus Media, which was somewhat symbolic.In November of the same year, Alibaba’s B2B business was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the stock code “1688.HK”, and Jack Ma was in a good position.
In early summer 2009, Jack Ma and his old classmate Yu Feng were rafting at West Lake, and their cooperation began to take shape.After all, a capital platform independent of the Alibaba system is also beneficial to Jack Ma.In April 2010, Yunfeng Fund was officially launched, and Yu Feng has since gained his own new name in the capital world – the co-founder of Yunfeng Fund.
Yunfeng Fund initially focused on PE (private equity).PE is to raise funds non-publicly from specific investors, invest in non-listed companies, and exit through IPOs, mergers and acquisitions after the company develops, and ultimately realize capital appreciation.
Essentially, PE is a money-making game for rich people.High-quality invested companies are far scarce resources than capital.
In the years when Yunfeng Fund started, entrepreneurs were popular, and banquets and gatherings became the stage for PEs such as Yunfeng Fund to take root.
In 2010, Yunfeng’s first dollar fund was established; in 2011, Yunfeng’s first RMB fund was established.So far, Yunfeng Fund has established five RMB investment funds and four US dollar investment funds. The list of invested companies is very long: Sogou, CATL, Xiaopeng, Aikang, Meinian Health, WuXi AppTec, NetEase Cloud Music, Damai, YTO Express, October Rice Field, Yuanqi Forest, Weilong, etc.
Of course, it includes a series of investment opportunities for Alibaba, including Alibaba’s privatization in Hong Kong, China and its subsequent relisting in the United States and Hong Kong, China, including Ant Group, Alibaba Health, and Cainiao. These companies appear on the list of invested companies of Yunfeng Fund, and are no exception.
It is worth mentioning that Yunfeng Fund is also an early investor of Xiaomi.On December 29, 2014, Lei Jun publicly announced that Xiaomi had completed a round of financing, with the valuation of this round of financing reaching US$45 billion and a total financing amount of US$1.1 billion. Yunfeng Fund is one of the institutions participating in this investment.
In fact, at the beginning of Yunfeng Fund’s establishment, entrepreneurs in the circle said, “I believe in Yu Feng.” “Yu Feng started his own business, received investment from large funds, and went through complete listing procedures, and experienced mergers and acquisitions. He is not a professional, but a professional may not have such experience.”
Fudan Group in Shanghai reunites
Not only is Yu Feng not a finance major, but his major is far from economics.
Yu Feng was born in Shanghai in 1963. He was admitted to the Department of Philosophy of Fudan University in 1982. He received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1986. In 1988, he returned to the Department of Philosophy of Fudan to pursue a master’s degree and obtained a master’s degree in 1991.
From this point of view, Yu Feng is not only a classmate with Fosun Group founder Guo Guangchang in the first CEO class of Changjiang Business School, but also the latter’s “senior brother” in the Department of Philosophy of Fudan University.Guo Guangchang, Xiao Yu Feng, was admitted to the Department of Philosophy of Fudan University in 1985. After graduating in 1989, he stayed at the school as a teacher in the Youth League Committee.
In Shanghai, China’s financial center, many alumni of the Philosophy Department of Fudan University have devoted themselves to the business world and have become a group of people full of contrast.Just during the 120th anniversary of Fudan University in May this year, an anonymous Fudan alumnus donated 100 million yuan to support the development of philosophy disciplines.
It was also during the May anniversary that Fudan University established the “Fudanyuan” Cultural Development Fund.Half of the first 100 million yuan came from Yunfeng Fund: “Yufeng Fund, the company founded by Yufeng School, donated 50 million yuan, Li Ruigang, president of the Shanghai Fudan University Alumni Association, and Chen Jingfeng, chairman of the school director and chairman of Zhongyun Capital, donated 10 million yuan respectively in his personal name.”
The elite consciousness that comes from a prestigious school and actively participate in the entrepreneurial circle culture may be two important labels for Yu Feng.
Just recently, with Yunfeng Fund’s “coming back”, there are many Fudan alumni who recruit soldiers and horses.
On September 5, Yunfeng Finance announced that Liang Xinjun was appointed as the company’s independent non-executive director.Liang Xinjun, born in 1968, has a label of being from Fudan University. He graduated from the Department of Biology at Fudan University in 1991 and received a bachelor’s degree in genetic engineering. He was also a close partner of Guo Guangchang, a classmate of Jack Ma and Yu Feng, the first CEO class of Changjiang Business School, and one of the “Fosun Five Swordsmen”.
Liang Xinjun was once the CEO of Fosun International and was Fosun’s “second-in-command”.In March 2017, when Liang Xinjun resigned from Fosun due to “physical reasons”, Guo Guangchang reflected: “I didn’t care whether everyone was tired.”
Liang Xinjun later established his own family office.On the 2025 Forbes Global Rich List, Liang Xinjun ranked 23rd on the Singapore Rich List with a net worth of US$2.6 billion.
Liang Xinjun came out of Yunfeng Finance, and the meaning of “standing” is obvious.But Yu Feng recently recruited another Fudan alumnus under his command, Lu Minfang, who may have come to work hard.
On August 25, Yunfeng Fund officially announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Bank. A new face appeared beside Yu Feng: Lu Minfang, partner of Yunfeng Fund.
Lu Minfang, born in 1969, has a close relationship with Niu Gensheng, a classmate of Jack Ma and Yu Feng in the first CEO class of Changjiang Business School. In September 2016, under the heavy pressure of Mengniu’s huge loss of 751 million yuan, Lu Minfang became president in danger; until October 2024, when Mengniu was approaching its 100 billion yuan revenue target, he resigned.
Lu Minfang, the longest-serving president of Mengniu and an iconic figure in China’s fast-moving consumer goods industry, has now become Yu Feng’s arm.
