CHINA – Grass Green Group, the investment arm of New Hope Group, China’s largest privately-held agricultural conglomerate has acquired a majority stake in Sichuan Huiji Food, for an undisclosed sum.
Sichuan Huiji Food is a Sichuan-style snack food manufacturer, based in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan province.
The company offers soybean snacks, jelly tofu, classic dried tofu snacks, sunflower seeds, rice crackers, flavored nuts and noodles with sauce under brand names Huiji, Haobashi, and You Ni Yi Mian.
Supported by a high-quality private equity backing, Huiji has in the recent years successfully transformed from a regional leader in Southwest China to leading branded, better-for-you snack company in China.
As the new majority owner, Grass Green has formed a strategic partnership with Huiji. As part of the agreement, Lu Jingang, Founder and Chairman of Huiji, will also continue his leadership role in Huiji.
Huiji is poised to benefit from the Group’s concept of improving consumers’ overall health and well-being and integrating global premium resources across industries to drive the “better-for-you” trends and promote industrial upgrading.
“New Hope Group is a leading conglomerate in China with a strong presence and premium market position in the agriculture and food industries,” Mr. Lu Jingang, commented.
“We’re delighted to partner with a market leader which will bring valuable expertise in supply chain management and channel expansion to us at this pivotal stage of our evolution.We believe our partnership will create significant synergies for both parties.”
Mr. Xi Gang, President of Grass Green, added: “Huiji is a leader in the snack food sector with high quality products and a professional management team.
“We’re excited to partner with Mr. Lu and his team to continue to upgrade the snack food industry, leveraging Huiji’s strong brand and product development capabilities.”
Grass Green Group is a consumer-focused investment platform co-founded by Mr. Liu Yonghao, Chairman of New Hope Group, together with Mr. Xi Gang, and Mr. Wang Hang.
Grass Green’s parent company, The New Hope Group is among the top 10 producers of poultry in the world and one of the world’s largest producers of animal feed, with 20 million tons of animal feed produced in 2019.
The agriculture conglomerate has further diversified its operations into new industries and sectors, from feed production to agriculture technology, food processing as well as real estate & tourism, and financial investments.
The Group now has 40 factories in operation or under investment in the 30 countries along the Belt & Road region.
