Ask AI · How does her position trajectory map the cyclical risks of sector funds?

01, “Full Exit” of Core Products

Recently, news that ICBC Credit Suisse Fund star fund manager Zhao Bei fully divested her management of core fund products has attracted attention.

According to ICBC Credit Suisse Fund’s 2025 annual report, Zhao Bei has fully divested her holdings of the core management product ICBC Credit Suisse Frontier Medical Care. Comparing with the data from the mid-year report of 2025, this redemption occurred in the second half of 2025 and coincided with a small rebound peak of the pharmaceutical sector in September of the same year.

Around September 2025, the innovation drug index rebounded approximately 30%, driven by policy warm winds and market sentiment recovery. This timing was quite sensitive — it coincided with a small rebound peak after a three-year bear market in the pharmaceutical sector.

Reviewing Zhao Bei’s buy and sell trajectory, her adjustments to her holdings in her managed funds show clear stage characteristics. Public information indicates that Zhao Bei’s first purchase of ICBC Credit Suisse Frontier Medical stocks was in 2019, with a buy-in of 500k–1M shares; in 2020, she redeemed her holdings down to 10,000 shares; in 2023, as valuations in the pharmaceutical sector declined, she increased her holdings again, raising her stake to 100k–500k shares, until fully divesting in the second half of 2025.

As the core product of Zhao Bei’s divestment, ICBC Credit Suisse Frontier Medical Care was once a leading player among public medical-themed funds, reaching a peak size of 500k yuan in 2021. But after reaching this peak, the fund entered a long decline cycle, and to date, its net value has retreated 36.08% from its 2021 high.

From the latest performance data, the fund still faces pressure. As of April 3, 2026, ICBC Credit Suisse Frontier Medical A’s year-to-date return was 4.77%, over the past six months -9.59%, and one-year return 11.36%, ranking 717th among 981 stock funds.

Other products managed by Zhao Bei have also shown clear performance pressure over the past year. For example, ICBC Pension Industry Stock A returned 8.26% over the past year, ranking 769/981; ICBC Growth Select Hybrid A returned 20.79%, ranking 2554/4502; ICBC Healthcare returned 13.97%, ranking 674th among 981 similar products.

02, Once a Legend in the Pharmaceutical Sector, Facing Bottlenecks in Recent Years

Zhao Bei, Vice General Manager of the ICBC Credit Suisse Fund Research Department and Investment Director, has been a fund manager since November 2014, with over 11 years of experience. She currently manages five funds with a total management scale of about 1M yuan. Her career once earned her the nickname “Pharmaceutical Goddess” for her precise layout in the pharmaceutical sector.

Looking at her past track record, Zhao Bei’s core advantage lies in the pharmaceutical field. Her longest-managed fund, ICBC Healthcare, has achieved a maximum return of 189.70% since she took office in November 2014. Additionally, ICBC Frontier Medical Care also saw a significant rise in 2020, becoming one of the most popular pharmaceutical-themed funds at the time. Her 10-year management return remains high at 222.60%, with an annualized return of 12.20%.

However, since the pharmaceutical sector adjustment began in 2021, Zhao Bei’s performance has faced clear bottlenecks. On one hand, many of her pharmaceutical-themed funds have experienced sharp net value declines — for example, ICBC Frontier Medical Care has fallen over 36% from its high, and ICBC Healthcare has declined 34%. On the other hand, her attempts to layout broader market funds have performed poorly; for instance, the ICBC Technology Innovation 6-month fixed-open hybrid fund, which still held a large proportion of pharmaceutical stocks, deviated from its “tech innovation” positioning and faced large-scale redemptions after its closing period.

03, The Cyclical Dilemma of the Pharmaceutical Sector

Zhao Bei’s experience is not unique. In 2020-2021, star fund managers such as Ge Lan of China Europe Fund, Wu Xingwu of GF Fund, and Zheng Lei of Huatai-PineBridge emerged in the pharmaceutical sector. Today, some of their managed products are still in deep correction, such as China Europe Healthcare A, which has fallen over 54.59% from its peak; GF Healthcare A, which has declined 53.75%; and Huatai-PineBridge Medicine & Healthcare A, which has fallen 56.64%.

This may not be a matter of individual ability but a systemic flaw of sector investing. Price negotiations, medical insurance cost controls, CXO overseas expansion obstacles… the systemic negative factors in the pharmaceutical sector have yet to be fully digested. Even the best active fund managers cannot resist the collapse of industry beta. Zhao Bei’s full divestment may reflect the common dilemma faced by all sector fund managers.

For retail investors, this event is a wake-up call: sector funds are essentially “high beta tools,” not “stable value-added products.” When the trend is favorable, they can generate extraordinary excess returns; when the trend reverses, the losses can be equally dramatic. Did fund companies adequately warn investors of this risk when issuing sector products? Do investors truly understand the meaning of “high return, high risk” when subscribing? The answers to these questions are often negative.