Noah Holdings

Noah Holdings Limited
Native name
諾亞控股有限公司
TypePublic
IndustryFinancial services
FoundedAugust 2005 (2005-08)
Founders
  • Jingbo Wang
  • Zhe Yin
Headquarters,
Key people
  • Jingbo Wang (Founder and Chairperson)
  • Zhe Yin (Founder, Director and CEO)
Products
RevenueDecrease US$359.12 million (FY2024)
Decrease US$86.84 million (FY2024)
Decrease US$66.72 million (FY2024)
AUMDecrease US$20.8 billion (FY2024)
Total assetsDecrease US$1.61 billion (FY2024)
Total equityDecrease US$1.36 billion (FY2024)
Number of employees
1,990 (FY2024)
SubsidiariesGopher Asset Management
Websitenoahgroup.com
Footnotes
[1]

Noah Holdings (Noah; Chinese: 諾亞控股; pinyin: Nuòyǎ Kònggǔ) is a Chinese financial services company headquartered in Shanghai, China. It is the largest independent wealth management company in China.[2][3]

Background

Wang Jingbao worked in the private banking division of Xiangcai Securities. In August 2005, she and her colleague Yin Zhe lead a management buyout of the division. The division was spun out as an independent company and was renamed to Noah. The company was launched with 3 million RMB in capital and worked out of a small office on Shanghai furnished with second-hand furniture purchased from an online market.[4][2][5][6][7][8]

In 2007, Noah accepted an investment from Sequoia Capital.[4][2][6]

In March 2010, Noah set up its asset management subsidiary, Gopher Asset Management which specialized in fund of funds management of alternative investments.[4][5][6]

On 10 November 2010, Noah held an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange for $12 apiece. The stock climbed 33% to nearly $16 on its first day.[4][2][8][9]

In early 2012, Noah launched its overseas expansion. It first set up an office in Hong Kong then set up additional offices in Taiwan, Silicon Valley, New York and Singapore.[4][6]

In October 2016, Sequoia Capital acquired a $52 million stake in Gopher Asset Management. In October 2017, Noah bought back Sequoia's stake.[10][11]

In July 2022, Noah was cross-listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.[4]

Wang being a devout Christian named the company after Noah's Ark. Gopher Asset Management was named after Gopher wood which was used to build Noah's Ark.[5]

Initially Noah was mainly a distributor of financial products where it sold wealth management products developed by other institutions to high-net-worth individual clients for a commission fee. However it later formed its own investment products to sell.[6][7]

Controversies

In 2017, products managed by Gopher Asset Management had exposure to China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co., which collapsed after being targeted by short sellers. A Shanghai court agreed to freeze the company's assets worth $79 million at the request of Gopher Asset Management.[7][12]

In June 2018, the Securities and Futures Commission fined the Hong Kong unit of Noah $640,000 for inadequate controls related to know your customer, due diligence and other requirements during the period January 2014 to June 2016.[7][13]

In July 2019, Noah stated $495 million of credit products overseen by one of its units were affected by an alleged fraud at Camsing International Holding Ltd. As a result, shares of Noah declined by over 25% in that week as critics accused the company of failing to conduct proper due diligence. Following the losses, Noah dropped offering of non-standard assets and focused only on investments based on publicly traded securities like stocks and bonds.[7][14]

In March 2023, in response to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Noah stated its business operations were not materially affected.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "20-F Report (2024)". Noah Group.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Noah sets sail for the HK market". South China Morning Post. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Zhen, Summer (24 March 2023). "Wealth managers ramp up staff in Hong Kong to chase Chinese demand". Reuters. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "10-K Report (2022)". Noah Group.
  5. 1 2 3 Wilson, Elliot (2 July 2017). "Chinese wealth enters a crucial decade". Asiamoney. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Noah Navigates Global Wealth Waters for Affluent Chinese". Institutional Investor. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "A $117 Billion Chinese Wealth Manager Says It Was Scammed". Bloomberg.com. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  8. 1 2 Hough, Jack. "Noah Holdings Shares Can Rise 35% in Coming Year". online.barrons.com. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  9. ↑ "China's Noah Holdings Surges After U.S. Initial Public Offering". Bloomberg.com. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  10. ↑ Xiang, Nina (25 October 2016). "Sequoia Capital Invests $52M In Noah's Gopher Asset". China Money Network. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "China's Noah Holdings repurchases Sequoia's stake in asset management unit". DealStreetAsia. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  12. ↑ Hughes, Jennifer; Hancock, Tom; Ju, Sherry Fei (11 April 2017). "Huishan Dairy defaults on loan as financial woes deepen". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  13. ↑ Marsh, Joe (3 June 2018). "HK fine for Noah a warning sign for fund firms | Family Offices". AsianInvestor. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  14. ↑ "Fund Scandal Was 'Wake-Up Call' for Noah's Shadow-Bank Shift". Bloomberg.com. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  15. ↑ "Noah Says Exposure to SVB 'Immaterial' to Business Operations". Bloomberg.com. 12 March 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2023.