Beijing News (reporter Xue Chen) On February 16, a Hong Kong-listed listed company named "Xinyang Maojian Group Co., Ltd." (hereinafter referred to as "Xinyang Maojian") issued a name change announcement that triggered heated discussion, and the core of the hot discussion was that the company would be renamed "China Guolong Moutai Group Co., Ltd."
The name change to "rubbing heat" caused controversy
According to the announcement issued by Xinyang Maojian, the Board of Directors of the Company and its subsidiaries proposed to change the English name of the Company from "Xinyang Maojian Group Limited" to "China Dragon Moutai Group Limited" and adopted "China Guolong Moutai Group Co., Ltd." as the Chinese second name of the Company to replace the existing name "Xinyang Maojian Group Limited".
The reason given by Maojian of Xinyang is that the new name better reflects the current situation and future development direction of the Group's business development. The new name can also establish a more appropriate corporate image and identity for the company, which is conducive to the company's business development.
But netizens obviously do not buy this explanation. The Beijing News reporter saw keywords such as "rubbing heat" and "speculating on stock prices" in the exchanges of netizens from multiple channels such as Weibo and Oriental Wealth Network shareholder exchange platform. Some netizens even directly determined that "the company's motives are not pure, it is the most cattle "touching porcelain" company, at that time, as a chemical company occupied the well-known tea name of "Xinyang Maojian", I don't know how it was successfully passed."
Relevant people close to Moutai in Guizhou also told the Beijing News reporter that it is difficult to understand the company's behavior logic.
Netizens' speculation about Xinyang Maojian's "impure motives" stems from the asymmetry between the company's main business and its name, as well as repeated changes to its name in the past. According to the 2020 annual report released by Xinyang Maojian, the company's business content mainly involves four parts: the heat and power department, the coal and related chemical products department, the construction services division and the tea division.
As the only tea business that can correspond to the name "Xinyang Maojian", the revenue generated by the company is almost negligible. Based on the company's revenue of approximately HK$194 million in the annual report, the heat and power segment alone amounted to approximately HK$177 million, while the coal-related chemical products segment alone received a gain of approximately HK$17 million in calcium carbide, which together account for almost all of the company's earnings.
Some netizens believe that based on the past of Xinyang Maojian's "nominal but unreal", I am afraid that "stock price" is the most direct reason for its name change. In the past, Xinyang Maojian Tea was well known, and the company sought to profit by changing its name to a negligible tea business. At present, the popularity of liquor is high, and it is not difficult to understand a wave of heat.
Netizens' speculation cannot be confirmed, but the stock price of Xinyang Maojian is really rising. On February 17, Xinyang Maojian has risen sharply since the opening of the Hong Kong stock market, and as of the time of this reporter's release, Xinyang Maojian stock price has risen by 14.94%.
Repeatedly changing the "hat"
The reporter checked the information that Xinyang Maojian was originally listed in Hong Kong stocks with the name of Dongjun Chemical Group, which was registered in the Cayman Islands on December 7, 2000, and listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2001. At this time, Xinyang Maojian (Dongjun Chemical Group), the main business is lubricating oil grease and anti-corrosion coatings.
Just over a year later, Xinyang Maojian (Dongjun Chemical Group) announced on October 18, 2002 that it would change its company name from Dongjun Chemical Group Co., Ltd. to Daqing Petrochemical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Daqing Petrochemical"). The reason given by the company for the name change is that the company signed a letter of intent with the Daqing Economic and Trade Commission on January 29, 2002, becoming the agent of the Daqing Municipal Government in Hong Kong and Macao, assisting Daqing enterprises in seeking business opportunities and raising funds in Hong Kong, Macao and other overseas countries.
Subsequently, the company began to enter the field of coal chemical products, and on January 8, 2007, it completed the acquisition of Heilongjiang Mudanjiang Jiari Hot Spot Co., Ltd. and entered the field of heat and power, which basically laid the foundation for the main business of Xinyang Maojian (Daqing Petrochemical).
At the same time as the new business was added, in May 2007, Xinyang Maojian (Daqing Petrochemical) announced that it would change its name again, from Daqing Petrochemical to China Tian Chemical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Tian Chemical"). At this time, the reason given by Xinyang Maojian (China Tianhua) for the name change was that the petroleum refining products business had been sold, the main business had shifted to the manufacture and sale of coal-related chemical products, biochemical products, and the production and supply of electricity and steam business, and the company name needed to truly reflect the main business.
By November 2, 2018, the name of China Tianhua was officially changed to Xinyang Maojian. The company logo and company URL were also changed.
The name change stems from the acquisition of Xinyang Maojian (China Tian Chemical) of a company called Xinyang Maojian International Holding Limited. The company, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, includes a number of subsidiaries such as China Xinyang Maojian Group, Xinyang Maojian Overseas Development Co., Ltd., and Xinyang Maojian Tea (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
The reason for The name change of Xinyang Maojian is that the chemical market is sluggish; the second is optimistic about the potential of China's tea market, and the tea business will become one of the main sources of income and profit for the group in the future, so the name needs to match the future development of the group.
Xinyang Maojian's ambitions were quickly defeated by reality, recording a loss of about HK$698 million in 2019. Xinyang Maojian said in the annual report that "after the outbreak of the Sino-US trade war, the products were greatly affected, resulting in losses in the tea branch during the year."
On March 26, 2020, Xinyang Maojian again announced that it intends to change the company name from Xinyang Maojian to China New Economy Group Holdings Limited. The reason for the name change was "to provide the company with better recognition and recognition, and a clearer and more appropriate corporate identity", but then the name change could not be solved.
Borrow "Moutai" to make a name
This time Xinyang Maojian changed its name, how to relate to wine?
On February 2, Xinyang Maojian issued an announcement announcing the acquisition of 100% of the equity of Beijing Yaolailong Micro Wine Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yaolailongwei") for a consideration of HK$80 million. The Beijing News reporter learned from the Inquiry of Tianyancha that Yaolai Longwei is a liquor sales service provider and has a series of trademarks such as "Jackie Chan".
Yaolailong Micro licensed the trademark to the partner Shanghai Gaocheng Creative Technology Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Gaocheng"), and jointly held Shanghai Obsidian Enterprise Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Obsidian") with Shanghai Gaocheng to promote, publicize and sell Guotai Jackie Chan Wine.
According to the exclusive sales and distribution agreement signed between Guizhou Guotai Culture and Creative Liquor Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Motley Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., about 87.3 tons of Guotai Jackie Chan wine will be supplied by Guizhou Guotai, and Shanghai Motai Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. will be distributed in China by the end of 2021. Shanghai Moocui Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. will provide a portion of the 87.3 tons of Guotai Jackie Chan liquor to Shanghai Obsidian for distribution.
As for the relationship between Shanghai Mochui and Shanghai Gaocheng, it can be seen through the tianyan check that the ultimate beneficiary of the two companies is the same person.
This also means that Xinyang Maojian has bound the cooperation with Shanghai Gaocheng through the acquisition of Yaolai Longwei, and thus obtained the distribution right of Guotai Jackie Chan Liquor and entered the liquor sales market. More importantly, as a professional institution of wine marketing services, Shanghai Gaocheng serves customers covering a number of famous wine companies such as Guizhou Moutai, Wuliangye, Jiannanchun, etc., and the resources in hand cannot be underestimated.
It is precisely in this way that Xinyang Maojian has been able to get close to the keywords of liquor that have been popular in recent years: that is, sauce-flavored liquor, Moutai Town and even Moutai Group. Some shareholders said on social platforms that "China's national dragon Moutai" is simply the result of Xinyang Maojian weighing hot words such as "Jackie Chan" and "Moutai".
Adding the word "Moutai" directly to the name of the enterprise is inevitably reminiscent of the Moutai Group. In fact, there have been many speculations on social platforms about whether "China Guolong Moutai" is related to moutai group.
Lawyer Fang Yuzhou, a senior partner at Yingke Law Firm, believes that the name changed by Mao Jian of Xinyang is suspected of violating the second paragraph of article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law law and article 6 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases of Unfair Competition.
Pursuant to Article 6 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, business operators shall not engage in acts of confusion or misleading people to believe that they are other people's goods or have specific links with others, including unauthorized use of enterprise names that have a certain influence on others, including abbreviations, trade names, etc.; and according to Article 6 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases of Unfair Competition, the enterprise names registered by the competent enterprise registration authorities in accordance with the law, as well as the names of foreign (regional) enterprises that are used commercially in China, It shall be recognized as the "enterprise name" provided for in Article 5(3) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The name of an enterprise with a certain degree of market popularity and known to the relevant public may be identified as the "enterprise name" provided for in Article 5(3) of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
Lawyer Fang Yuzhou explained that this means that even if Xinyang Maojian is a registered enterprise in the Cayman Islands, as long as it is "used commercially in China", the Chinese courts have jurisdiction and also apply Chinese law. Even if the main commodity of Xinyang Maojian is not liquor at present, but based on the name "Maotai" is too well-known, regardless of whether the main scope of Xinyang Maojian changes in the future, its use in China is suspected of violating the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.
Beijing News reporter Xue Chen picture Screenshot of oriental fortune APP
Edited by Zheng Mingzhu Proofreader Li Ming