Recently, the largest shareholder of Shandong Jingzhi Distillery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingzhi Distillery"), Anqiu Zhongren Xingjiu Trading Partnership (Limited Partnership), pledged 53 million shares to China Resources Snow Breweries (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Resources Snow"), registered on May 17. Industry insiders generally believe that China Resources Snow's acquisition of the 53 million pledged shares is a "solid proof" of its impending acquisition of Jingzhi Distillery. The final outcome may be discerned from related events. ******-01-******Jingzhi's "Seeking Acquisition" Path First, regarding this pledge event, both parties have not given a clear stance. China Resources Snow's statement is: "Both parties are currently committed to business cooperation, achieving dual empowerment of channel network and brand marketing. As for cooperation at the capital level, further discussion is still needed." Jingzhi Distillery has also remained silent on this matter, responding to media inquiries with only a few words: "Limited to production and operation levels." So, what will be the final outcome of the so-called further discussion? Will it ultimately acquire Jingzhi? Although whether Jingzhi Distillery and China Resources Beer can "join hands successfully" seems uncertain, some industry insiders still insist that behind the fog, cooperation between the two should not be a problem. At present, it is unknown whether the cooperation between China Resources Snow and Jingzhi Distillery will extend to the capital level. However, before this, the capitalization path of this largest sesame-flavored baijiu producer in China has not been smooth. As early as October 2018, Jinshiyuan Distillery signed a "Strategic Cooperation Agreement" with Anqiu Zhongren Xingjiu regarding the acquisition of its shares in Jingzhi Distillery. However, due to disagreements on the proportion of shares to be acquired and performance targets, the former gave up direct acquisition and later bypassed by establishing an industry M&A fund to advance the matter. After planning for a year, at the end of December 2020, Jinshiyuan terminated the acquisition citing considerations such as industry development, market valuation, progress of negotiations with partners, and the company's strategic development. Subsequently, news emerged that Jingzhi Distillery would join hands with ST Yaxing, but that also did not yield results. On January 9, 2021, ST Yaxing signed a "Cooperation Intent Agreement" with Jingzhi Distillery. However, on January 17, ST Yaxing announced the termination of the major asset restructuring with Jingzhi Distillery. ******-02-******After Two Failures, Can China Resources Snow Drink Down Jingzhi Distillery? After two failed sales attempts, can Jingzhi now smoothly fall into the arms of China Resources Snow? From Jingzhi's perspective, after the previous two failures, if this time it ends in a "parting on bad terms," Jingzhi Distillery may become a liquor enterprise that everyone will not easily attempt to contact. And China Resources Snow has already had successful cases of cooperation with baijiu enterprises. As early as February 2018, China Resources initiated a major move into the baijiu industry. Fenjiu Group signed a share transfer agreement with China Resources Enterprise, transferring 11.45% of Shanxi Fenjiu's shares to Huachuang Xinrui for a total price of 5.16 billion yuan. Huachuang Xinrui is a subsidiary of China Resources Enterprise, which holds 80.62% of its shares. After this transaction, China Resources Enterprise became the second largest shareholder of Shanxi Fenjiu. The result of the "strong-strong alliance" is that Shanxi Fenjiu's revenue increased from 6 billion yuan in 2017 to an astonishing 14 billion yuan in 2020. The institutional and mechanism reform of Shanxi Fenjiu, including the "marriage" with China Resources, has become a widely discussed growth case in the industry. In summary, the future cooperation between China Resources Snow and Jingzhi Distillery gives the market enough room for imagination. ******-03-******Baijiu Business May Be the Strategic Growth Pole for China Resources Beer in the Future Chen Siting, CEO of New Distribution, commented on this event: The pattern of China's beer market has been stable for many years, with the top five brands accounting for over 70% of the total market share. In future beer market competition, apart from the low-probability event of big fish eating big fish, the imagination for China's beer is really not much. The problems faced by the industry are often the primary considerations for the leader. Snow Beer, which has been the leader in China's beer market for many years, after having no rivals in beer, naturally has to think about where future strategic growth will come from in the next decade. On December 11, 2020, China Resources Wine Holdings Co., Ltd. was quietly established in Haikou National High-tech Zone. From "Beer" to "Wine", the one-word difference indicates the future strategic growth direction of China Resources Snow Beer: baijiu. Of course, the wine industry landscape is not only baijiu and beer, but baijiu and beer are the two largest segments. Having been the beer leader for many years, will Snow give up baijiu? Impossible. Whether China Resources Snow's move on Shandong Jingzhi will result in a controlling stake or full acquisition has not been announced. But it is highly likely that China Resources Snow will control Jingzhi's production and marketing. China Resources Snow's entry into the baijiu industry has the following logical support points. 1. As the long-time leader in China's beer industry, and having already deployed the premium beer brand Heineken, the most attractive future prospect is baijiu. Moreover, as a company with the strongest terminal control in China, Snow Beer has sufficient capability and experience to operate the baijiu market. 2. Snow Beer will likely focus on regional famous liquors, with early prices mainly focusing on mass-market products, such as bottle-less liquor. National famous liquors are few and have little opportunity. After becoming the second shareholder of Shanxi Fenjiu and earning hundreds of billions, China Resources Snow also attempted to bid for Shede Spirits, but unfortunately lost to Fosun in the end. Regional famous liquors, on the other hand, have many targets and fair prices. In terms of price, focusing on mass and mid-range baijiu can maximize China Resources Snow Beer's strong advantages in the catering channel. Moreover, the market operation of mass baijiu is quite similar to that of beer. Over the past 20-plus years, China Resources Snow Beer has grown from small to large, overcoming the strong with the weak, and has trained tens of thousands of experienced marketing talents and channel teams. If China Resources Snow can also recruit very outstanding high-level baijiu operators, the probability of winning is very high. 3. Shandong Jingzhi Distillery is just the beginning of China Resources Snow's entry into baijiu. China Resources Snow may continue to invest in the baijiu industry in the future. According to China Resources Snow's decision-making habits, it will not waste energy on short-term matters. Therefore, China Resources Snow's strategic deployment in baijiu will unfold in the coming period, and then we will be able to see the full picture. And China Resources Snow's large-scale entry into the baijiu field will also greatly affect the development and model innovation of the baijiu market in the future. With its research and innovation capabilities, the baijiu market after China Resources Snow's entry will certainly not be dull. Once the tip is adopted, a payment of 400-2000 yuan will be made.