HKEX Delists Hongjiu Fruit Amid Legal and Financial Troubles

On Dec. 24, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) announced that Hongjiu Fruit’s H-share listing would be canceled, effective from 9 a.m. on Dec. 30.

Trading in Hongjiu Fruit’s H-shares has been suspended since March 20, 2024. As the company failed to resume trading by Sept. 19, 2025, the exchange decided on Oct. 3 to cancel its listing. The company applied for a review on Oct. 13, but the exchange’s Listing Review Committee upheld the previous decision.

Founded in 1987, Hongjiu Fruit was listed on HKEX on Sept. 5, 2022, becoming China’s first publicly traded fruit company. Shares were initially offered at 40 Hong Kong dollars (US$5.15) per share, raising net proceeds of HK$497 million (US$63.93 million). At its peak, the company’s market capitalization reached HK$67 billion (US$8.62 billion). However, following the listing, the company released only one annual report and one interim report. Trading was suspended on March 20, 2024, pending compliance with resumption guidance. On the last trading day before the suspension, Hongjiu Fruit closed at HK$1.74 (US$0.22) per share, with an H-share market capitalization of HK$1.977 billion (US$254.3 million) and a total market capitalization of HK$2.80 billion (US$360.2 million) — a decline of more than 95% from its peak.

In April 2025, Hongjiu Fruit announced that the Liangjiang New Area Public Security Bureau of Chongqing had initiated an investigation into suspected loan fraud and the issuance of false VAT special invoices. Chairman Deng Honjiu, directors Peng He, Jiang Zongying, Yang Junwen and Tan Bo, and the chairwoman of the company’s supervisory board, Yu Lixia, were subjected to various criminal enforcement measures. Since January 2025, the company’s headquarters has been restricted by public security authorities, preventing normal operations.

On May 15, the company applied to the court for debt restructuring and considered introducing strategic investors to support its plan. On May 30, three independent non-executive directors collectively resigned. As a result, Hongjiu Fruit no longer had any independent non-executive directors, leaving its audit committee without members.

According to information aggregated from China’s corporate credit and court enforcement databases, Hongjiu Fruit has 39 judgment debtor entries, 10 records as a dishonest judgment debtor and 55 terminated enforcement cases, with an unpaid amount of 415.78 million Chinese yuan (US$59.16 million).

Image: Hongjiu Fruit

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.