文 | 食悟（ID：food-gnosis）
On the road of "listing", Wang Wenli, the founder of Bama Tea Industry, may really "disagree" with the capital market. For ten years, he has broken through the IPO three times, but all of them have returned in vain, and Wang Wenli has tasted enough of the "taste of failure".
On September 28, 2023, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange disclosed that Bama Tea applied to withdraw the issuance of listing application documents. So far, from the launch of the listing in 2013 to the voluntary withdrawal of the listing application, the founder Wang Wenli has changed from a 43-year-old young and middle-aged to a 53-year-old middle-aged and elderly.
Before the withdrawal of the listing application of Bama Tea at the end of September 2023, on January 12, 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued feedback to CITIC Securities, the sponsor of Bama Tea, involving a total of 46 questions in three categories, requiring all questions to be implemented one by one and providing written responses.
The three major types of issues involved in the prospectus of the Eight Horse Tea Industry include: 1. Normative issues, such as whether the online sales revenue of live streaming is true, etc., 2. Information disclosure issues, such as the number of administrative penalties received by the Eight Horse Tea Industry during the reporting period, whether these penalties and disputes have caused obstacles to the listing of the Eight Horse Tea Industry, etc., and 3. Issues related to financial and accounting information.
In the above 46 questions, the Eight Horse Tea Industry is also required to clarify whether their distributors are legally holding food sales and other qualifications and licenses, whether the Eight Horse Tea Industry and its franchisees are engaged in production and operation beyond the scope of the license, whether it may lead to administrative penalties, and whether the Eight Horse Tea Industry's food safety control measures for franchisees and other channels can effectively prevent franchisees from selling substandard food?
According to the prospectus previously disclosed by Bama Tea Industry to the GEM of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, they have had 3 franchisees who have sold expired products, all of which appeared in 2021, and in these three cases, two of the relevant users sued the court, and the other case was that the local market supervision department found the sale of expired products during the inspection, and finally the franchisee was given a fine of 25,000 yuan.
The franchise model is an important part of the channel expansion of the Eight Horse Tea Industry. From 2019 to the first nine months of 2022, the sales of Bama Tea Industry through the offline franchise model were 480.4 million yuan, 594.7 million yuan, 891 million yuan and 718.2 million yuan respectively, accounting for 47.44%, 47.33%, 51.50% and 51.44% of the main business income, accounting for a high proportion.
According to the professional research of Shiwu, the franchisees have played an immediate role in the rapid expansion and strengthening of the Eight Horse Tea Industry, but whether the franchisees can make money, especially in the case of the repeated failures of the Eight Horse Tea Industry IPO and the obstruction of the listing road, whether the franchisees of the Eight Horse Tea Industry can enjoy the policy dividends in the early stage of expansion is obviously a practical problem in front of all franchisees in the Eight Horse Tea Industry.
When the efficiency of franchisees declines sharply, or is not as good as before, there is a big question mark about whether the appeal of Bama Tea Industry and Wang Wenli for franchisees exists. This is also the reason why the China Securities Regulatory Commission carefully inquired whether the Eight Horse Tea Industry could control the franchise channels.
Regarding why the Eight Horse Tea Industry took the initiative to withdraw the listing application at the end of September 2023, some analysts said that the feedback from the 46 questions of the China Securities Regulatory Commission directly poked the pain points of the Eight Horse Tea Industry, and it was difficult for them to give a clear answer to many questions, or it was also time-consuming to reply, but the China Securities Regulatory Commission was relatively strict about the time for inquiry feedback, so after thinking about it, Eight Horse Tea Industry still decided to withdraw on its own initiative.
Wang Wenli, founder of Eight Horse Tea Industry
Wang Wenli may not be able to figure it out, he and his Eight Horse Tea Industry have been preparing for the IPO for ten years, as the so-called ten years of grinding, why can't he sharpen this sword?
According to Shiwu's professional research, if the Eight Horse Tea Industry cannot be listed, the founding shareholders will not be able to cash out, and the investors who have already entered will not be able to exit, and in the face of such an embarrassing situation, new investors are not willing to come in, you must know that since 2021, the Eight Horse Tea Industry has never been financed.
According to the professional research of Shiwu, the listing for the eight horse tea industry is not only related to financing, access to direct financing of the financial blood, with more ammunition needed for expansion, but also about the brand power and even comprehensive strength of the eight horse tea industry can be further improved, you know, listed or not, for the eight horse tea industry that relies on the expansion of the eight horse tea industry is essentially different, the listed company has more strength endorsement, can attract more franchisees to join in, and the eight horse tea industry to grow together, and create brilliance.
If you can't go to market, let alone attract new franchisees, it's difficult to maintain existing franchisees. Because in the eyes of many channel providers, the repeated failures of the IPO mean that the current problems in the Bama tea industry are difficult to solve, and it is difficult to pass the review of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and whether these problems have a potential impact on franchisees and channel providers, the channel is very worried.
Another very important point is that in recent years, the Eight Horse Tea Industry has not obtained new financing, indicating that the capital market is not optimistic about the Eight Horse Tea Industry now, and investment institutions cannot see the future growth and development potential of the Eight Horse Tea Industry, which is the main reason why the Eight Horse Tea Industry has been unable to obtain new financing. In this situation, it is difficult for Bama to continue to give channel dealers confidence, which will bring great trouble to the next market expansion, not only because the story is finished, but more importantly, the current channel providers have begun to be more rational and are no longer easily brainwashed.
Therefore, rather than saying that Wang Wenli is racing against the IPO, it is better to say that the Eight Horse Tea Industry is racing against the IQ of the channel business.
Regarding the capital test and future way out of the Eight Horse Tea Industry, please pay attention to the follow-up series of reports of Shiwu.
Attached: The ten-year listing road of the Eight Horse Tea Industry (China Times statistics)
The first time is a small and medium-sized board. In 2013, Bama Tea Industry submitted the "Prospectus" for the first time, seeking to impact the small and medium-sized board but failed.
Since then, from 2015 to 2018, Bama Tea Industry has been listed on the New Third Board for a short time.
Specifically, on November 24, 2015, the shares of Bama Tea Industry were listed on the stock transfer system and publicly transferred. In March 2016, the stock transfer method of Bama Tea Industry was changed from agreement transfer to market-making transfer. In February 2018, the transfer method of Bama Tea Industry shares was changed from market-making transfer to call auction transfer. Until April 19, 2018, Bama Tea announced that it would terminate its listing on the share transfer system from April 24, 2018.
The second time is the GEM. On April 15, 2021, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange accepted the listing application of Bama Tea Industry on the Growth Enterprise Market. At that time, the proportion of R&D investment in the Bama tea industry was very low, and there were only 11 R&D personnel. The company is faced with issues such as whether it has innovative attributes, industry classification, and whether it is in line with the positioning of the GEM.
On May 10, 2022, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that the review of the IPO application of Bama Tea Industry on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was terminated, and the CSRC industry was "retail".
The third time is the motherboard. On March 1 this year, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange accepted the application documents for the initial public offering of shares and listing on the main board of Bama Tea Industry, and reviewed it in accordance with the regulations. In this application, the type of industry listed in the Eight Horse Tea Industry is still "retail".
Since then, on June 26 this year, the review of the IPO application of Bama Tea Industry Co., Ltd. has been suspended. Regarding the suspension, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange revealed that it was due to the issuer and the sponsor updating their financial information and taking the initiative to apply for the suspension of the issuance and listing review process.
On September 28, 2023, the IPO application of Bama Tea on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was terminated again.