(Yicai Global) May 16 -- The fund manager under Asia private equity firm Hillhouse Investment hiked its stake in nine stocks in the first quarter, including e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holdings and Pinduoduo, showing a clear preference for tech stocks.

HHLR Advisors, the investment management firm of Hillhouse Capital focusing on secondary markets, held a total of USD5.6 billion market value shares, according to data published on the website of the US Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, up almost 20 percent from the previous quarter.

The fund manager hiked its stake in Microsoft, Amazon and Alibaba and bought into chipmaker AMD, internet giant Baidu and electric car startup Li Auto, among others, for the first time.

And its holdings of Shanghai-based Pinduoduo surged more than three-and-a-half fold over the period to 10.6 million shares, with a value of USD808 million, making it the second-largest stock in the fund manager's US portfolio.

Pinduoduo’s stock price hit a new high in the first quarter at USD106.38, but then fell sharply after the company released its fourth-quarter and 2022 annual reports, plunging over 10 percent at one point. The stock is now trading at around USD66 a share.

Hotel giant Huazhu Group entered HHLR Advisors' top 10 for the first time, and its stock gained 15.4 percent in value in the first three months. The Shanghai-based company’s average revenue per room more than doubled in the first quarter from 2019 as the market recovers.

Meanwhile HHLR Advisors slashed its holdings in video site iQiyi and e-commerce giant JD.com. The former is relying on significant cost reductions and efficiency gains to improve profitability, and the latter has just changed chief executive officer.

As of March 31, seven of HHLR Advisors’ 10 biggest stocks were overseas-listed Chinese companies including Hangzhou-based Alibaba, Pinduoduo and online property agency KE Holdings.

Fund managers with assets under management of more than USD100 million are obliged to disclose their stock and bond holdings at the end of each quarter. These reports show that investment firm Greenwoods Asset Management and hedge fund Bridgewater also logged sizeable movements in their portfolios.

Both of them reduced their holdings in Pinduoduo, although the e-retailer remains Greenwoods’ largest-held stock, accounting for 18.6 percent of the Cayman Islands-based firm’s fund at 4.2 million shares. New Oriental has risen to second place, after Greenwood increased its holdings in the edtech firm six-fold, taking the place of JD.com, whose stock was sold off completely.

Editor: Kim Taylor