Moutai's "escort" still can't break the deadlock? Huagui Life's large fundraising project repeatedly postponed

Ask AI · Behind Huagui Life’s fundraising dilemma, why is market confidence lacking?

Our report (chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Wu Min Beijing reports

According to Tianyancha information, Huagui Life’s registered capital recently increased from 2 billion yuan to 2.62B yuan, an increase of about 31%. Founded in February 2017, as Guizhou Province’s first local insurance legal entity, it completed another capital injection in its ninth year of operation.

However, while this 615 million yuan capital increase was implemented, Huagui Life’s large-scale fundraising project of 2.5 billion to 4.5 billion yuan, launched at the end of 2024, remains listed and in progress, having experienced multiple delays. On one side is the short-term capital pressure easing, and on the other is the long-term development strategic funding needs. Huagui Life stands at a critical juncture of “breaking even” and capital supplementation, facing a complex situation where performance turns profitable and capital needs are simultaneously pressing.

Regarding the specific obstacles to advancing the fundraising project, the strategic implementation path of “focusing on Moutai,” and whether this strategy will be affected or adjusted amid the current deep adjustment in the liquor industry and fluctuations in Feitian Moutai prices, Huaxia Times reporter once sent a letter to Huagui Life for interview. As of press time, no response has been received.

The Moutai background of equity

The approval time for Huagui Life’s capital increase can be traced back to December 19, 2025. On that day, the Guizhou Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued an approval, agreeing to the company increasing its registered capital by 615 million yuan, from 2 billion to 4.5B yuan.

However, unlike industry practice, Huagui Life did not disclose the resolution and specific plan for the capital increase on the Insurance Association’s official website before the increase. It only announced the change after approval, and the announcement did not disclose the investors or their shareholding ratios. This opacity is quite unusual amid the wave of capital replenishment in the insurance industry.

According to the announcement, the proposal for this capital increase was approved at Huagui Life’s first extraordinary general meeting of 2024. But reviewing previously disclosed information, the main proposals considered at that meeting included “Amendment to the Independent Director Management Measures,” “Amendment to the Major Shareholders’ Commitment Management Measures,” and four other items, without explicit mention of the capital increase proposal.

From the shareholding structure, China Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. remains the largest shareholder with a 33.33% stake, reaching the regulatory limit for a single shareholder. This means that if Moutai Group continues to participate in the subscription of the 615 million yuan increase, its shareholding ratio cannot further increase unless other shareholders waive their subscription rights, leading to changes in total share capital. The specific changes in other shareholders’ holdings are not publicly disclosed.

However, according to the “Insurance Company Shareholding Management Measures,” there are two situations allowing insurance companies’ shareholding ratios to exceed this limit: one is for business innovation, specialization, or group operation needs, where investments or acquisitions of other insurance companies are not restricted; the other is for investment entities holding insurance company shares authorized by the State Council, and for companies and institutions approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to participate in insurance risk disposal, with no limit on their shareholding ratios.

In contrast to the smooth landing of this 615 million yuan increase, Huagui Life’s larger-scale fundraising projects have not progressed smoothly. On December 30, 2024, Huagui Life was listed simultaneously on the Guizhou Sunshine Property Rights Exchange and Beijing Property Rights Exchange, proposing to add registered capital of 2.5 to 4.5 billion yuan, which would raise the registered capital to 4.5 to 6.5 billion yuan after the increase.

According to the plan, Huagui Life intends to introduce no more than 20 investors, with the total shareholding ratio of new investors planned to be 20% to 40%. The project features differentiated share sale restrictions: controlling shareholders are limited to a five-year lock-up period, strategic shareholders to three years, and financial shareholders to one or two years. This stepped design aims to both ensure stability of the company’s equity structure and provide flexibility for different types of investors.

However, the project has been listed on the Guizhou Sunshine Property Rights Exchange for a long period of 235 working days, and on December 19, 2025, it was again listed on the Beijing Property Rights Exchange, and is still in progress. The prolonged suspension of this fundraising project reflects the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized life insurance companies in raising capital under the current environment.

Peking University postdoctoral fellow and professor Zhu Junsheng told Huaxia Times that from an industry perspective, the core issues facing small and medium-sized insurance companies in fundraising mainly include: first, lack of market confidence, as many small insurers have weak solvency and capital adequacy, leading investors to doubt their future profitability and risk control, which affects their attractiveness for financing. Second, regulatory pressure, as regulators tighten requirements for insurance shareholders, small insurers face stricter conditions, limiting their financing channels and flexibility. Third, fierce market competition, as small insurers lack the capital, technology, and brand advantages of large insurers, making their fundraising in capital markets less attractive and less capable.

PanGu Think Tank senior researcher Jiang Han also pointed out that the fundamental reason for the fundraising difficulties of small insurers is “valuation inversion.” In a sluggish capital market and declining interest rate environment, investors demand higher risk premiums, but small insurers often operate at a loss or marginal profit, unable to offer matching returns, resulting in “high price but no market.”

Moreover, Jiang Han told this reporter that small insurers are in an awkward stage of “scale diseconomies.” They lack the brand moat of large insurers and also lack differentiated competitive advantages. After the implementation of the second phase of the “Solvency II” system, capital replenishment pressure has increased sharply, causing external capital to hesitate.

“This also reflects a lack of market confidence. Long delays in listing send negative signals to the market, intensifying investor hesitation. Without clear profit expectations and exit mechanisms, social capital remains extremely cautious about investing in small insurers, leading to repeated failures of fundraising projects,” Jiang Han said.

The executive’s Moutai gene

Huagui Life’s equity structure evolution has always been closely linked to Moutai Group. As a flagship enterprise of Guizhou Province, Moutai Group was the first major shareholder at Huagui Life’s founding, holding 20%. After a 1 billion yuan capital increase in April 2023, Moutai Group’s stake rose to 33.33%, reaching the regulatory limit for a single shareholder.

This shareholding ratio means Moutai Group has absolute control over Huagui Life, but also limits further increase.

Huagui Life’s senior management team is heavily influenced by Moutai. After the April 2023 capital increase, Liu Gang, the chief accountant of Moutai Group, was appointed chairman of Huagui Life by the end of that year. Besides Liu Gang, vice presidents Wang Jianbo and Chen Dongmei, and director Liu Tong, all have backgrounds at Moutai.

This management composition is quite unusual in the insurance industry. On one hand, Moutai Group, as a well-known enterprise, has management expertise in corporate management, brand operation, and resource integration; on the other hand, insurance operations are highly specialized, and whether management experience from the liquor industry can be effectively transferred remains to be seen.

In Zhu Junsheng’s view, “industry capital leading insurance” mode has potential advantages and risks. The advantages include: first, capital support—industry capital generally has strong financial strength, providing more stable capital backing and enhancing risk resistance. Second, synergy effects—introducing industry capital can bring richer market resources and business synergy. Moutai Group’s resources in consumer goods can aid in insurance product innovation and market expansion. Third, increased market recognition—being a subsidiary of Moutai Group, Huagui Life can leverage Moutai’s brand effect to enhance market visibility and brand trust, gaining more consumer confidence.

However, Zhu Junsheng also pointed out that if industry cycles or policy adjustments cause financial pressure or performance decline for industry capital, their support and strategic backing for the insurance company may weaken, constraining its development.

Jiang Han also believes that this model’s advantages lie in strong brand backing and channel reuse. Moutai’s reputation provides Huagui Life with natural trust, and its extensive dealer network and customer base can be converted into insurance clients, achieving “industry-finance integration.”

But Jiang Han also warned that homogenized management teams tend to have rigid decision-making, and industry capital often lacks long-term patience for financial operations, tending to pursue short-term financial returns.

“From a macro cycle perspective, the support capacity of major shareholders is not unlimited. As the liquor industry enters a correction period, Moutai’s own growth slows, and its capital expenditure and external investments will be constrained. If the major shareholder faces cash flow pressures, their ability to continue funding the insurer will be severely affected. Huagui Life may then face a ‘weaning’ risk and must quickly establish independent, market-driven self-sustaining capabilities,” Jiang Han said.

Liu Gang has emphasized on multiple occasions that Huagui Life should “focus on Moutai.” The specific connotation of this strategic positioning remains largely unclear. But as the liquor industry undergoes deep adjustment in 2025, with Feitian Moutai prices continuing to decline and younger consumers gradually losing interest in traditional drinking culture, these external changes have impacted Moutai’s operations and may indirectly affect Huagui Life’s development.

In 2025, Huagui Life delivered a rather impressive report card. Its solvency report shows that last year’s insurance business income reached 4.85 billion yuan; net profit was 240 million yuan, turning profitable from a loss. This is only the second time Huagui Life has posted a profit since its founding in 2017, after a brief profit in 2021, and the scale far exceeds the 32 million yuan in 2021.

The profit improvement mainly benefited from good investment performance. In 2025, Huagui Life’s comprehensive investment return rate reached 5.78%. This investment performance is notable in 2025, a year of declining interest rates and asset shortages in the insurance industry.

However, looking at a longer cycle, Huagui Life’s profitability sustainability remains uncertain. Reviewing operational data from 2017 to 2024, the company’s premium income grew from 424 million yuan to 2.62B yuan, but net profit fluctuated significantly. From 2017 to 2020, losses were 77 million, 112 million, 78 million, and 68 million yuan respectively; after a brief profit of 32 million in 2021, it again fell into loss, with losses of 361 million, 378 million, and 232 million yuan in 2022-2024.

Questions about the sustainability of profits and whether investment returns can be maintained under current market conditions have been posed. The reporter once sent a letter to Huagui Life for interview; as of press time, no response has been received.

Editor: Feng Yingzi Chief Editor: Zhang Zhiwei