news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Zong Fuli's road to "succession" is full of twists and turns. On July 18, 2024, a "Letter to All Employees of Wahaha Group" signed by "Zong Fuli" began to circulate. In this letter, "Zong Fuli" proposed to resign from the positions of vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group, and attributed the reasons to the People's Government of Shangcheng District, Hangzhou City and some shareholders of Wahaha Group. At the same time, another "Report Letter" that was recently made public on the Internet has fermented again. An employee who claimed to be a former company of Hangzhou Wahaha Group stated in the letter that Zong Fuli "encroached on the state-owned assets of Wahaha Group" by changing the unified purchase and sales model, OEM processing of pure water, and foreign investment in factories. Nandu reporters noticed that as of now, there are hundreds of companies named "Wahaha". Among them, at least dozens of companies have equity ties with Hangzhou Wahaha Group (hereinafter referred to as "Wahaha Group") or the Zong family and the veterans of Wahaha Group. The interests of all parties are complicated, and you have me and I have you. According to the "China's Top 500 Private Enterprises List", Wahaha Group's operating income reached 51.202 billion yuan in 2023. After the death of Zong Qinghou, a famous entrepreneur, his control over "Wahaha" with his own prestige, connections and abilities will eventually fade away, and the question of "Whose Wahaha?" will eventually need an answer.

Zong Fuli caught in the whirlpool of public opinion

In the "Letter to All Employees of Wahaha Group", "Zong Fuli" stated that recently, the Hangzhou Shangcheng District People's Government and some shareholders of Wahaha Group have questioned the rationality of her management of Wahaha Group since Zong Qinghou's death, making it impossible for her to continue to perform her management responsibilities for Wahaha Group and its holding companies. Therefore, "I have decided to resign from the positions of Vice Chairman and General Manager of Wahaha Group from now on" and will no longer participate in its management.

In terms of equity structure, Hangzhou Shangcheng Culture, Business and Tourism Investment owns 46% of Wahaha Group's shares, making it the largest shareholder. The second largest shareholder, Zong Qinghou (Zong's family), and the third largest shareholder, Wahaha Group Working Committee, hold 29.4% and 24.6% of the shares respectively. This means that if any two parties form an alliance, they may gain control of the company, but at the same time, they will be constrained to some extent by the other party.

As of press time, the Shangcheng District State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said it was investigating and verifying the relevant situation but did not provide clear information.

And just ten days ago, on July 8, a letter of complaint titled "A solid report on the embezzlement of huge state-owned assets of Wahaha Group by Zong Fuli, President of Hongsheng Group" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report Letter") quietly appeared.

The report listed many "crimes" against Zong Fuli, including entrusting an external processing factory in the name of Hongsheng Group to process Wahaha pure water under its own brand and then selling it to Wahaha Group's sales company, while Wahaha Group is the only company that has the right to entrust external processing of Wahaha brand products; Hongsheng Group and other companies jointly built a factory with an investment of about 1.2 billion yuan to achieve the purpose of transferring all of Wahaha Group's original aquatic product business, and this part of the investment was advanced by Wahaha Group; Wahaha Group originally had unified sales and purchases, and Zong Fuli added Hongsheng Trading Company to the procurement system and unreasonably increased the prices of many raw materials; and the orders for Wahaha Group's main profitable products, such as Eight Treasure Porridge, were transferred to Hongsheng Group's processing plant.

Nandu reporters asked Hangzhou Shangcheng Cultural Tourism Investment, Wahaha Group, Hongsheng Group and others about this question, but no response was received as of press time.

It is worth mentioning that,Tianyancha shows that2024Year7moon5On the same day, Zong Fuli was changed from the chairman of Hongsheng Group to the executive director; Shi Lijuan and Shi Youzhen withdrew from the board of directors.Shi YouzhenShe is the wife of Zong Qinghou and the mother of Zong Fuli.

In addition, combined with industrial and commercial information and relevant announcements of Wankai New Materials (301216.SZ), at least as of March 16, 2022, Zong Fuli held all the shares of Hongsheng Group through Hengfeng Trading and Hengfeng Investment.

Hongsheng Group was established in 2003. Its main products include purified water, milk-containing beverages, tea beverages, fruit and vegetable beverages, canned foods, etc. It also has high-end equipment manufacturing, printing and packaging, beverage production, brand marketing, logistics and warehousing, etc., which runs through the entire chain of the beverage industry. According to multiple media reports, Hongsheng Group started with Wahaha OEM business and then gradually built its own brand.

Zong Fuli. Source: Company official account

picked uphandZong Qinghou's core investment platform

Since Zong Qinghou's death, his shares in Wahaha Group have not changed, but Nandu reporters found that Zong Fuli has taken over many companies originally under Zong Qinghou, including some important and valuable enterprises.

For example, Qixinbao shows that on March 28, 2024, the 100% shareholder of Hangzhou Wahaha Hongzhen Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wahaha Hongzhen") changed from Zong Qinghou to Zong Fuli. Wahaha Hongzhen and Shi Youzhen hold 90% and 10% of the shares of Zhejiang Wahaha Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wahaha Venture Capital"), respectively. Wahaha Venture Capital once invested in listed companies such as Huaxi Biology (688363.SH) and Yiheda (301029.SZ), and holds shares in IPO companies such as Tongxin Medical, Landing Intelligence, and Tengrui Pharmaceuticals. Since 2010, Hongzhen Investment has also been a founding shareholder of Zhejiang Hongtu Venture Capital Co., Ltd., and later withdrew at the end of 2023.

Since April this year, Zong Fuli has also served as the legal representative of many companies, including Hangzhou Wahaha Kaqinna Daily Chemical Products Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Xiaoshan Hongsheng Food Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Wahaha Food and Beverage Marketing Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Wahaha Honghui Food and Beverage Co., Ltd., and Guangyuan Jinxin Investment Co., Ltd. At the same time, she has served as the executive director of many companies, including Inner Mongolia Wahaha Food Co., Ltd., Weifang Wahaha Dairy Co., Ltd., Xinxiang Wahaha Convenience Food Co., Ltd., Weifang Wahaha Food Co., Ltd., and Nanchang Wahaha Food Co., Ltd.

Nandu reporter noted thatAlthough they are all named "Wahaha", Wahaha Group does not control this series of "Wahaha" and does not even hold shares in many of these companies.

After analysis, it was found that most of the shares of these companies are held by Zong Fuli, Du Jianying and two foreign-funded companies, Ronghui Investment and Shengjia Group.

“Wahaha”Veteran Du Jianying

Du Jianying, who appears many times on the list of shareholders of the "Wahaha" series of companies, joined the Wahaha Group in 1991. He served as the group's party secretary and a member of the core management team.

In 2010, he founded Sanjie Investment Group, which directly holds shares in Great Wall Life Insurance, Ningbo Weika Green Building Technology, Tongyuankang E-commerce, Hangzhou Huaan Biology and other companies, and indirectly invests in the "first pet product stock" Tianyuan Pet (301335.SZ), electronic product ODM manufacturer Zhongxin Technology (603996.SH, delisted), ecological environment investment and construction operator Shengshi Shares (831634.OC), former NEEQ-listed companies Aier Health and Zhoutian Technology, and film and television production company Hairun Films.

At the same time, Du Jianying also directly or indirectly holds shares in more than 100 companies, mainly in biomedicine, including Bairuiyuan Wolfberry, Lianzhong Wisdom Shares, Suzhou Shengxin Medical, Kangfeng Bio (6922.HK), Harbin Precision Gene, Nanjing Fanyin Health, Harbin Aerospace Precision, Guangzhou Chexingyi Technology, and Hangzhou Youxing Technology.

As mentioned in the previous part, Du Jianying, who has reaped great rewards in the investment field, has always maintained close ties with Wahaha Group and Zong Qinghou.

On the one hand, Du Jianying and Zong Qinghou (took over by Zong Fuli) respectively hold 40% and 60% of the shares of Guangyuan Jinxin Investment Co., Ltd., and use this to invest in a series of companies including Jilin Wahaha Food, Shenyang Wahaha Food, and Guangyuan Wahaha Beverage; on the other hand, Du Jianying still holds shares in companies such as Shaanxi Wahaha Dairy, Tianjin Wahaha Food, Dali Wahaha Beverages, Hangzhou Xiaoshan Hongsheng Food, and Zhejiang Sanhe Food, which are held by the Wahaha Group or the Zong family.

In addition to Du Jianying, Zong Qinghou's younger brother Zong Duanhou holds a 30% stake in Xiamen Shuibohui Industrial, whose business scope includes drinking water manufacturing and was formerly known as "Xiamen Wahaha Industrial Co., Ltd."; a person named Zong Juliang holds a total of 49% of Hangzhou Wahaha Juhe Information Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Juhe Information"). The remaining 51% of the company's shares are currently held by Wahaha Venture Capital.

After the departure of the soul figure, how to maintain the harmonious coexistence and symbiotic development of all members under the shade of "Wahaha" is not a simple problem.

Written by: Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Miao Lingyun from Shanghai