Apple juice giant's heiress leads cross-border acquisition of loss-making chip material firm, drawing two regulatory inquiries

H-Share Purchases and Stake Update

On the evenings of September 21 and 22, Andrey (605198.SH) announced in consecutive statements that Executive Director Wang Meng had increased his holdings of the company's H-shares. He purchased 294,500 shares of Andrey Juice (2218.HK) at HKD 20.74 per share and 380,000 shares at HKD 20.55 per share.

Following the purchases, as of the close of trading on September 22, Wang Meng is deemed to hold 43.73% of Andrey's A-share interests and 2.83% of its H-share interests.

Andrey stated that the board of directors believes Wang Meng's stake increase demonstrates his firm confidence in the company's prospects and growth potential, as well as his long-term commitment to the company.

Background on Succession Planning

When Andrey conducted its A-share IPO in 2020 as a Hong Kong-listed company, the A-share prospectus already listed Wang Meng and his father Wang An as joint actual controllers of Andrey. This established a pre-arrangement for the second-generation succession at the equity level, avoiding the need for a change in actual controllers after listing.

Unlike Wang An—who founded Andrey, led it through its Hong Kong and A-share IPOs, built it into a leading domestic concentrated apple juice producer through years of deep engagement in the juice business—Wang Meng has relatively limited experience in the core concentrated juice operations. His previous career focused more on capital operations and equity investments.

Since entering the Andrey system in 2019 and holding management positions in various subsidiaries, Wang Meng served as Vice President and Executive Director of Andrey in 2022 and 2023, clearly preparing for eventual succession.

In mid-August 2026, Wang An transferred 45% of his stake in Shandong Andrey Group Co., Ltd. ("Andrey Group," the controlling shareholder of Andrey) to Wang Meng, completing a further handover at the top-level equity structure.

However, at the corporate governance level, Wang An has remained firmly in the role of Andrey's Chairman. Wang Meng serves as Executive Director, responsible for capital operations, and has led a major cross-border acquisition for Andrey, which prompted the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) to issue two supervisory letters to the company.

Core Business Performance Declines Sharply; Second-Generation Stake Increases

Andrey is one of the earliest companies in China to engage in the processing and production of concentrated fruit juice. Since its establishment in 1996, the company has built 11 concentrated juice processing bases near major raw fruit-producing regions including Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Xinjiang. Its concentrated juice processing capacity and production scale rank among the top in the domestic industry.

In April 2003, Andrey was listed in Hong Kong, becoming one of the earliest concentrated juice companies to go public in China. In September 2020, the company was listed on the SSE, becoming the first "A+H" dual-listed company in the juice beverage sector in China.

Despite years of deep involvement in the concentrated juice industry, Andrey's revenue remains highly dependent on a single product. According to its 2026 semi-annual report, the company's main products are concentrated apple juice and concentrated pear juice, with concentrated apple juice accounting for approximately 90% of its main business revenue.

China's concentrated apple juice industry has long passed its high-growth period, with 90% of sales being export-oriented. Total volume growth has stagnated, and the industry faces demand pressure from downstream consumer preferences shifting toward NFC juices, low-sugar beverages, and sparkling water.

According to Andrey's investor relations activity record announced on June 9, 2026, in recent years, due to factors such as funding chain issues, operational difficulties, bankruptcy restructuring, and litigation, two of the original "Big Four" concentrated juice industry leaders—Haisheng Juice and Shaanxi Hengtong—have exited the industry after clearing capacity. This has transformed the competitive landscape from the "Big Four" to a "dual leader" structure featuring Andrey and Guotou Zhonglu.

Notably, Andrey's core business performance has also declined significantly.

The latest semi-annual report shows that in the first half of 2026, Andrey's revenue fell 24.45% year-on-year to RMB 716 million, while its non-GAAP net profit attributable to shareholders dropped 41.40% year-on-year to RMB 116 million. Both the revenue decline and the non-GAAP net profit decline were the largest for any comparable period since the company's A-share listing.

Andrey explained in its semi-annual report that the decline was mainly due to decreases in both sales volume and selling prices of concentrated juice during the reporting period.

Facing a growth ceiling in its traditional core business and constraints on valuation, Andrey, under the leadership of second-generation successor Wang Meng, has begun seeking business breakthroughs through cross-border acquisitions.

On August 18, 2026, Andrey announced a change in the equity structure of its controlling shareholder, Andrey Group. Founder, co-actual controller, and Chairman Wang An transferred 45% of his stake in Andrey Group to his daughter Wang Meng, while Yang Yuhua (daughter of Wang An's sister Wang Shujuan) transferred her 10% stake in Andrey Group to her mother, Wang Shujuan.

Wang An's transfer of half of his Andrey Group stake to Wang Meng means that the second-generation succession arrangement has completed a further equity handover at the controlling shareholder level.

According to iFinD data from Flush, following Wang Meng's two consecutive days of increasing his Andrey H-share holdings, as of the close on September 22, 2026, Wang Meng's controlling stake in Andrey increased to 37.20%, up 7.5 percentage points from 29.70% at the end of 2025. During the same period, Wang An's controlling stake fell from 13.10% at the end of 2025 to 6.67%.

Cross-Border Acquisition of Chip Substrate Firm Triggers Two SSE Inquiries

It is worth noting that Wang Meng lacks experience in the concentrated juice industrial operations.

According to public records, Wang Meng was born in 1988 and holds Canadian citizenship. Before June 2019, he worked at Hony Capital (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Harvest Wealth Management Co., Ltd.

In June 2019, Wang Meng entered the family's various subsidiaries, successively holding management positions including Director, Vice Chairman, and Chairman. In May 2022, Wang Meng was appointed Vice President of Andrey, and in May 2023, he was elected Executive Director, a position he has held since, responsible for Andrey's capital operations and investment mergers and acquisitions.

On June 15, 2026, Andrey announced that it had signed a Equity Transfer Framework Agreement with the transaction counterparty, planning to acquire Ningbo Yongqiang Technology Co., Ltd. ("Yongqiang Technology") for RMB 600–800 million. Yongqiang Technology is a company primarily engaged in general and high-end copper-clad laminate materials, which are in the upstream basic materials sector for PCB and chip manufacturing.

The following day, the SSE issued a supervisory letter to Andrey. On June 23, Andrey disclosed its response to the SSE's letter. The response showed that Yanjiang Co., Ltd. (300658.SH) had only disclosed the termination of its proposed issuance of shares and cash payment to acquire 98.54% of Yongqiang Technology's equity on May 18, 2026—less than one month before Andrey signed the agreement to acquire Yongqiang Technology.

In the supervisory letter, the SSE required Andrey to further explain the commercial rationale for the acquisition, post-acquisition integration and control measures, the target company's core technology and operational status, and how the acquisition plan protects the interests of the listed company and its investors.

In its response to the SSE, Andrey stated that its single main business structure faces development bottlenecks, and the acquisition is based on plans to break through growth limits by entering high-growth emerging sectors and cultivating a second growth curve.

The response also indicated that since its establishment, Andrey has been primarily engaged in the concentrated juice business, with no involvement in the integrated circuit electronic interconnect materials sector, nor does it have talent, technology, customers, or suppliers in that field. The business and management models of the two companies also differ due to their respective industries.

More notably, Yongqiang Technology was established at the end of 2019. In 2025, with revenue of RMB 224 million, Yongqiang Technology reported a net loss of RMB 66.9581 million, with over 70% of revenue coming from low-to-mid-end FR4 products. Among its high-speed and high-frequency copper-clad laminate products, only the M6 product and non-PDFE high-frequency copper-clad laminate achieved annual sales revenue exceeding RMB 5 million, but neither has reached industry-standard mass production and still requires further commercial validation.

On September 18, 2026, Andrey again announced the signing of a formal equity transfer agreement for the acquisition of a controlling stake in Yongqiang Technology. The agreement states that Andrey plans to acquire 62.0611% of Yongqiang Technology's equity for RMB 793 million in cash, implying a total valuation of approximately RMB 1.277 billion for Yongqiang Technology. Based on Yongqiang Technology's net assets of approximately RMB 282 million as of the end of March 2026, the acquisition is estimated to generate goodwill assets of over RMB 600 million.

However, the transaction counterparty has also committed to Andrey that Yongqiang Technology's net profit for 2026, 2027, and 2028 shall be no less than RMB 23 million, RMB 42 million, and RMB 70 million, respectively. The cash consideration for the equity transfer will be paid into a joint escrow account. If the performance commitments are not met, funds in the escrow account will be specifically used for performance compensation.

Additionally, the parties agreed that Yongqiang Technology's core team will serve as senior management of the listed company, with a service period of no less than eight years, and will not engage in similar business for ten years after leaving. This means that for post-merger integration and control, the agreed plan is to retain Yongqiang Technology's original team, with Andrey only overseeing financial and major decision-making matters.

On the same day (September 18, 2026), Andrey received a second supervisory letter from the SSE. As of now, Andrey has not yet disclosed its response.

However, the day after the announcement, Andrey's A-share price fell sharply for four consecutive trading days (September 19–24), closing at RMB 63.91 per share, a decline of 25.58% from the closing price of RMB 85.88 per share on September 18.

Reporting by Lei Xiaoyan, Nandu N Video