Hongjiu Fruit Faces HKEX Delisting

On Oct. 13, 2025, Hongjiu Fruit announced that the Listing Committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) had decided to cancel its listing. The company received confirmation of this decision on Oct. 3. After reviewing materials submitted by Hongjiu Fruit and the HKEX Listing Division, including written and oral submissions, the committee concluded that the company had failed to meet the resumption guidance issued over the preceding 18 months.

The resumption guidance was issued in several rounds. The initial guidance on June 20, 2024, related to the resumption of H-share trading following the company’s failure to publish its 2023 annual report. Additional guidance was issued on May 27, 2025, requiring compliance with Listing Rules 3.05 and 3.28, which relate to board composition and corporate governance requirements. Another round of guidance followed on May 30, 2025, requiring independent verification, assessment of the impact of company issues on business operations and financial performance, publication of investigation results, and the implementation of remedial actions. Finally, yet another round of guidance was issued on June 9, 2025, although the details were not disclosed publicly. The Listing Committee found that Hongjiu Fruit had not satisfied the conditions of any of these guidance rounds and expressed ongoing concerns about the integrity, competence and governance of the company’s management.

Hongjiu Fruit said that its board regretted the delisting and believed that the committee had not fully considered the evidence submitted by the company. Following internal discussion and consultation with professional advisers, the board submitted a written request to the Listing Review Committee on Oct. 13, seeking a further and final review under the Listing Rules.

Founded in 1987, Hongjiu Fruit was listed on HKEX on Sept. 5, 2022, becoming China’s first publicly traded fruit company. Its shares were initially offered at 40 Hong Kong dollars (US$5.15) per share, raising net proceeds of HK$497 million (US$63.97 million). After listing, the company released only one annual report and one interim report. Its H-shares were suspended from trading on March 20, 2024, and they remained suspended pending compliance with resumption guidance and HKEX approval. On the last trading day before the suspension, the share price closed at HK$1.74 (US$0.22), giving the company a Hong Kong market capitalization of HK$1.977 billion (US$254.4 million) and a total market value of HK$2.795 billion (US$359.7 million).

In April 2025, the company announced that its chairman Deng Hongjiu, directors Peng He, Jiang Zongying, Yang Junwen and Tan Bo, and the chairwoman of its supervisory board, Yu Lixia, had all been subjected to various criminal enforcement measures.

On May 15, 2025, Hongjiu Fruit applied for debt restructuring and began considering the introduction of strategic investors to support the plan. By May 20, 2025, four individuals remained under arrest: chairman Deng, director Peng and two other management members. Restrictions on other company personnel had been lifted or relaxed, allowing them to resume participation in operations.

On May 30, 2025, three independent non-executive directors resigned, citing a desire to devote time to other work. Following their departure, the company no longer had any independent non-executive directors, leaving its audit committee without members and raising additional corporate governance concerns.

Image: Hongjiu Fruit

This article was based on a Chinese article. Read the original article.