Three "Zhang Bows" silly and unclear? An article to clarify

Cartography \ Han Lu

"In the east, west, south, and north, good wine is in Zhang Bow", this advertising slogan records the glory of Zhang Bow wine, which is the representative of China's low-grade wine and is known as "Zhang Boss". On the morning of August 20, the relevant assets of Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province were auctioned in Zhengzhou. With several crisp hammer sounds, Henan Zhanggong Old Wine Co., Ltd. successfully bid for Henan Zhanggong Distillery and related assets for 415 million yuan. This acquisition will also push three "Zhang Gong" into everyone's field of vision: Zhang Gong Distillery, Zhang Gong Wine, Zhang Gong Old Wine. Where do these silly and confusing "Zhang Bows" come from? What does it have to do with this acquisition?

Henan Business Daily reporter Qi Yaqiong intern Xiao Yang

<b>An auction exposed 3 "Zhang Bow" embarrassment</b>

The earliest "Zhang Gong" was formed in 1951 at the local state-owned Zhang Gong Distillery in Ningling County. In 1973, Zhang Gong successfully developed a 38 ° low liquor, which was the first low liquor in China, and won the silver medal in the fourth and fifth national liquor appraisals.

Many people know that after the decline, the "Zhang Bow" evolved into two factories in the north and south. In 2002, Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province closed down. In 2003, Henan Zhanggong Liquor Co., Ltd. entered the North Factory; in 2012, Henan Zhanggong Old Wine Co., Ltd. entered the South Factory. The two companies have a leased relationship with the Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province, which has created countless brilliant achievements. People are accustomed to distinguishing between "ZhangGong Wine" and "Zhanggong Old Wine" by the North Factory and the South Factory, and the equity auction winner Zhanggong Old Wine Co., Ltd. is what people call "Old South Factory".

In the afternoon of the same day, at the "Henan Zhanggong Old Wine Industry Acquisition of Henan Zhanggong Distillery Media Meeting" held by Zhanggong Old Wine, Deng Tianzhi, chairman of Zhanggong Old Wine Co., Ltd., stressed that after the bankruptcy of Henan Zhanggong Distillery, it was leased and operated, and in 2003, the North Factory was leased to Zhanggong Wine, with a lease period of 20 years, while the South Factory was shelved. The south plant is older, and the north plant is newly built. The old south factory has the resource advantage of winemaking, and the north factory has a brand and trademark.

In July 2012, Deng Tianzhi established a joint-stock enterprise Henan Zhanggong Old Wine Co., Ltd. on the basis of the Laonan Factory of Zhanggong Distillery, revitalized the state-owned assets that had been idle for more than 10 years, and invested 120 million yuan successively to carry out a comprehensive renovation of the original plant facilities and brewing equipment; and redeveloped hundreds of centuries-old cellars known as "henan's first cellar", so that the Zhanggong old wine industry was rejuvenated.

In fact, due to the different lease ownership, the zhanggong trademark, winery, and production base are held by the north factory, while the south factory owns the century-old cellar pool of zhanggong. Because the South Factory did not have the right to use the "Zhang Bow" trademark, it invested more than 2 million yuan to purchase the "Huangfeng" brand, and later registered the "Old South Factory" brand. The "ZhangGong" brand has underperformed the market in recent years. Once one of the "Six Golden Flowers" of Yujiu, it has been squeezed out of the "Golden Flower" team and become a member of the "Silver Flower" ranks.

<b>Yujiu revitalization Zhang Bow asset restructuring is imperative</b>

In January this year, Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province officially went bankrupt and started liquidation proceedings. At the 2018 annual work promotion meeting on the transformation and development of the liquor industry in Henan Province held on August 2, it was proposed to "accelerate the formulation of asset disposal plans and restructuring plans for Zhanggong Liquor Industry, and strive to complete the establishment of new companies in the second half of the year" as one of the important tasks for the revitalization of Yujiu in 2018.

Under the strategic background of the revitalization of Yujiu by the provincial party committee and the provincial government, the successful auction of Zhanggong Distillery is undoubtedly of great significance. For this big move in the province's wine industry, Sun Xiyu, a Chinese winemaking master and chief engineer of Zhanggong Old Wine Industry, lamented that as the inheritor of Zhanggong's intangible cultural heritage, he has personally experienced the rise and fall of Zhanggong wine, and the successful acquisition of Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province is good news, and the new development opportunity of Zhanggong Wine has come.

<b>"North-South" reunification may still have some way to go</b>

Deng Tianzhi said that the successful acquisition included plant, land, brand, equipment and so on. Their next step is to form a "new bow", at least 200 million yuan in the equipment of the factory, plan to build a modern brewing workshop, apply artificial intelligence, and possibly use robots. The goal is to make the sales revenue of the two wineries reach 200 million to 300 million yuan in 2019, and in the next 5 to 10 years, the sales revenue will reach 3 billion yuan to 5 billion yuan, and it is confident that the "new ZhangGong" will be listed.

Many people in the industry are concerned that the lease contract between the North Factory and the Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province has not expired, will it affect the production of the North and South Factories? In this regard, Deng Tianzhi said that with the bankruptcy of Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province, according to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Law, the lease relationship between the north and south factories and Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province has been automatically cancelled. Ma Yajie, general manager of Henan Zhanggong Wine Co., Ltd., said that Zhanggong Wine and Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province are leasing relationships, the lease contract expires in 2023, the auction of Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province and Zhanggong Liquor have no relationship, and the signed contract will not be affected by the auction.

Industry insiders believe that the successful acquisition of Zhanggong Distillery in Henan Province, if the reunification of the north and south factories is successfully realized, the relevant assets and resources of Zhanggong can be uniformly called, sitting on the nearly 1 billion local market in Shangqiu and the geographical advantage of the junction of Sulu and Yuwan, the market competitiveness will be greatly enhanced, and the emotional symbol of "ZhangGong" will also be continued and carried forward.