Chinese bubble tea brand “Auntie Jenny” will debut in the Hong Kong stock market. Earlier, as Chinese milk tea brand “Chagee” was successfully listed on Nasdaq, founder Zhang Junje became a billionaire, and Auntie Jenny and his wife are also expected to have a net asset of $1.1 billion through the listing.
Bloomberg reported that Auntie Jenny will be listed on the Hong Kong stock market on the 8th. It will start trading at HK$113.12 per share, which is the top of the offering range, and the company will raise a total of HK$273 million through listing work. Auntie Jenny specializes in milk tea and fresh fruit tea with grain toppings, and as of the end of last year, 9,100 stores across China were operated in a franchise manner.
The success of the initial public offering (IPO) is expected to boost the founder’s wealth. Bloomberg analyzed that the net assets of Shan Weijun and Zhou Long are expected to reach 1.1 billion U.S. dollars. The 48-year-old couple worked together as sales managers at Amway before starting their business and started their beverage business in November 2013 by opening their first store in Shanghai.
Recently, the milk tea business has received great attention in China, and the founders of related brands are joining the ranks of the rich. Earlier, while Chang Jun-je, founder of Pan Wang Cha-hee, joined the ranks of billionaires with the listing of Nasdaq, the Miche Group, which has 45,000 stores in China, has also recently been listed on the Hong Kong stock market and is valued at $8 billion.
However, some in the market are pessimistic about the listing. This is due to the diagnosis that the milk tea market has already reached saturation point in China. “The Chinese tea franchise market, which has rapidly expanded for 10 years, is now overheating,” Bloomberg said. “The competition is getting fiercer as many shopping malls and stores are built on the streets in the city.” Investors are wary of injecting funds into related industries, and some companies are showing a sharp decline right after the listing. Some companies are inevitably going overseas to overcome the slowdown in growth. Auntie Jenny is also said to plan to expand its stores in Malaysia this year.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
