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Cailianshe News, August 6 (Reporter Liang Kezhi)Recently, Pancha Holdings, a tea chain company headquartered in Fangcun, Guangzhou, was questioned by dealers due to the freezing of its bank accounts and subsequent sudden reorganization, which attracted market attention.

On August 6, an insider told a reporter from Cailianshe that since the end of July, a large number of news about the collapse of Pancha and the founder's escape have appeared on social platforms, causing dealers and consumers to worry about the "collapse", and they have flocked to the company to seek an explanation.

A reporter from Cailianshe searched the short video platform and found that in the past seven days, there were indeed many short video contents of dealers and consumers gathering at Pancha Company and having dialogues and negotiations with the main leaders of Pancha Company, but some of them could no longer be opened.

According to several Pantea Holdings documents circulating on social media, on July 22, the company announced that it would postpone the order delivery time by 10 days to August 2 because its bank account was frozen. However, on August 3, the company suddenly announced that it was liquidating assets and preparing for restructuring, and the specific plan would be notified after the shareholders/distributors meeting.

Regarding the above information circulating on social networks, as of press time, Cailianshe reporters have been unable to contact the company for comment.

Cailianshe reporters noticed that the official microblog of Guangzhou Liwan District, "Guangzhou Liwan", issued a "Risk Warning on Preventing Illegal Fund Raising in the Name of "Financial Tea" and "Financial Management Tea" on July 25: "Financial Tea" and "Financial Management Tea" business models are becoming increasingly popular. This type of business model is divorced from the essence of commodity trading, and has evolved from normal sales behavior to an investment and financial management behavior that pursues high returns, which hides greater risks and may be suspected of illegal fund raising.

Pantea Holdings' announcement of restructuring draws market attention

The announcement by Pantea Holdings caused panic among dealers and investors. A short video released on August 4 showed that Zheng Chaogen, chairman of Pantea Holdings, negotiated with nearly 100 investors on the spot, during which many investors demanded "a plan be put forward immediately, and no more waiting."

Tianyancha shows that Pancha Holdings was established in 2021 with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. The legal representative is Zheng Chaogen. It has successively established 8 companies in Dongguan, Yunnan and Guangzhou.

At present, the official website of Pancha is operating normally. The company introduction shows that it is "a tea company with aged tea as its core product, headquartered in Guangzhou, China, with two 10,000-acre tea garden bases (Yunnan + Fujian), Panfu Building and more than 500 physical stores; more than 90% of the members of the Pancha team are born in the 1990s and 2000s, with higher cultural literacy, innovation ability, coordination ability and execution ability than their peers.

Public information shows that on July 25, Pancha’s 2024 mid-year distributor meeting was held in Foshan. The meeting proposed to "actively use media platforms, strengthen external publicity, spread positive energy, and win broad support and recognition for corporate development."

On August 6, a reporter from Cailianshe tried to call the official customer service of Pancha Holdings several times, but no one answered the call.

Cailianshe reporters noticed that the official microblog of Guangzhou Liwan District, "Guangzhou Liwan", issued a "Risk Warning on Preventing Illegal Fund Raising in the Name of "Financial Tea" and "Financial Management Tea" on July 25: "Financial Tea" and "Financial Management Tea" business models are becoming increasingly popular. Tea companies sell tea to consumers in the name of selling tea but do not deliver the actual product, and promise to repurchase it in the form of principal plus interest after a certain period of time.

Official reminder: This type of business model deviates from the essence of commodity trading and evolves from a normal sales behavior into an investment and financial management behavior that pursues high returns. It hides major risks and may be involved in illegal fund-raising.

The famous Fangcun Tea Wholesale Market where Pantea Holdings is located falls under the administrative jurisdiction of Liwan District.

Changshi Tea, which was involved in a case worth over 100 million yuan, was exposed half a year ago.

On August 6, a tea merchant from Fujian told a reporter from Cailianshe that after the bankruptcy of Changshi Tea in Fangcun at the end of last year, tea merchants and investors still have psychological trauma and are more sensitive to such incidents. In addition, most investors have invested a lot of money in the early stage, so even if they feel that the company has problems, they dare not denounce it too fiercely, and there is a certain fluke mentality.

Public information shows that Changshi Tea Company, founded on June 5, 2023, is suspected of attracting investors to buy its products by speculating on tea prices and promising to buy them back at high prices. Many tea merchants were attracted by the huge appreciation potential. Unexpectedly, after November 30 last year, the company's tea prices fell sharply. The tea products purchased by investors could not realize the expected appreciation potential, and even faced huge losses, triggering mass gatherings.

To this end, on June 12, the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision Bureau issued a nine-point notice on regulating tea market price behavior, which is known as the "Nine Don'ts" in the industry, including no price gouging, no price fraud, and no use of false or misleading price means to deceive consumers or other operators into transactions. It is particularly emphasized that tea should not be promoted as having financial attributes, and tea should not be confused with financial products for illegal speculation and sales.

The above-mentioned tea merchants said that traditional merchants in tea production and sales enterprises, that is, real tea merchants, are more aware of the value of tea and rarely invest in "financial tea". The schemers generally use the mentality of getting rich quickly and the desire to make quick money to attract people in the tea-related fields or pure investors to join in.

According to Southern + reports, the largest individual investor in Changshi Tea invested more than 20 million yuan, and the total amount of funds involved was no less than 200 million yuan. The victims came from as far away as Kunming, Xiamen, Sichuan and other places.

On July 25, "Guangzhou Liwan" issued a risk warning that according to Article 25 of the "Regulations on the Prevention and Disposal of Illegal Fund-raising": "No unit or individual may obtain economic benefits from illegal fund-raising. The losses incurred due to participation in illegal fund-raising shall be borne by the participants themselves."