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Hougu Coffee broke with VCs the plan to go public this year fell through.

Published: 2026-04-23 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/23, Hougu Coffee, the largest local coffee company, has led suppliers to declare war on Nestle's trademark for coffee partners. Recently, it can be said that the founding team has officially broken with equity investment funds. The latter even said that Hougu Chairman Xiong Xiangjin has the possibility of absconding. There is no doubt that the plan to complete the listing within this year will fall through, and if the bank loans and debt ratio cannot be realized again.

Hougu Coffee, the largest local coffee company, has led suppliers to declare war on Nestl é as a "coffee partner" trademark. Recently, Hougu Coffee has been in trouble and the founding team officially broke with equity investment funds. The latter even said that Hougu Chairman Xiong Xiangjin has the possibility of absconding. There is no doubt that the plan to complete the listing within this year will fall through, and if bank loans cannot be achieved, the valley with a debt ratio of up to 70% and the hope of a revival of local coffee may even go bankrupt.

"Sorry, I declined the interview these two days." Xiong Xiangjin told reporters in Nandu yesterday. The phone that can still be connected at least proves that it has not disappeared as feared by the fund, but according to Zhu Danpeng, a researcher at the China Institute of Commerce, the coffee industry is still in the consumer-led stage compared with imported products such as chocolate and xylitol, and local brands such as Hougu still have a big gap with Nestl é, so it would be better to take back the existing stake and hand it over to Cofco.

PE refers to the embezzlement of funds to repay usury

According to Hougu, after six equity investment funds bought shares in July 2011, Hongtian Industrial, its controlling party, owed a large amount of money to Hougu and forced Hongtian to sell its equity to repay the debt. Hongtian owns 59.74% of Hougu, which is actually controlled by Xiong Xiangjin, chairman of Hougu, while six PE jointly hold 36.25%.

However, PE told the media that it had invested 280 million in Hougu, and another 27 million had transferred shares in Hongtian, that is, old shares, but had not yet been transferred into equity, and actually formed a claim on Hongtian, with a total investment of 307 million. The total amount of usury owed by Hongtian Industry is more than 300 million, and accounts receivable and other ways occupy the back valley funds, accounting for 349 million of the total capital by October last year. It thinks that it is unable to know the flow of the latter valley funds, and thinks that the invested funds have been transferred as repayment by Xiong Xiang. In April, one of the six impatient companies, Beichen Dexin, Xinjiang, reported Xiong Xiangtang to the economic investigation unit of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau on suspicion of misappropriation of funds, embezzlement of positions, and loan fraud, and was put on file for investigation.

Nandu reporters learned that what is even more deadly is that due to the intensification of contradictions between the two sides, the board of directors can not reach a resolution, and a new round of bank loans has been delayed, which almost means going bankrupt for a trough with an asset-liability ratio as high as 70%.

Nestle already accounts for 80% of the coffee market.

In fact, in mid-2010, Hougu confirmed the listing plan, and Cofco, New Hope, Singapore Nanyi Group and so on all spread the news of negotiation to buy, but it seemed to emphasize autonomy that Xiong Xiangjin finally chose six relatively unknown PE to take a small stake. According to its plan, Hougu has invested 110 million to build a production line with an annual output of 3000 tons in the first phase, and another 463 million to build a 10000-ton production line in the second phase. In addition, 450 million yuan has been invested to launch a new coffee planting project of 120000 mu to achieve the grand goal of exporting 5 billion of coffee powder, and a large amount of debt has been borrowed as a result.

From the perspective of the overall market, Nestl é invested 150 million US dollars to build a new coffee factory in Laixi, Shandong Province last year, and is expected to put into production next year, and an additional 500 million yuan to set up a coffee line in Dongguan. In addition to the Shanghai factory, the planned sales revenue of the Laixi factory under construction also reached 5 billion.

"the coffee market is still in the introduction period and lags far behind other beverage categories, so it belongs to passive consumption." Zhu Danpeng said that Maxwell rarely carries out marketing, only Nestl é has been cultivated alone for 20 years, so it accounts for 70% and 80% of the market. "it was not until the emergence of Uni-President Yaha, a ready-to-drink product, that it played a certain role in promoting the market, but it still could not match the mid-and high-end market. And Hainan coffee is getting smaller and smaller, unable to support channels and promotion costs, Hougu has been dominated by the export of raw materials, it can be said that local coffee brands have basically withdrawn from the market.

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