Fan Yimou, President of Danone Asia Pacific, disclosed yesterday that it will not be open to third parties in resolving the issue of Wahaha's non-joint venture. It is rumored that CITIC Group will intervene as an investor. This is untrue. Danone and I have never had any contact with CITIC.

Yesterday, the media revealed that Oriental Gaosheng Investment Company has given a "second plan" to resolve the dispute between Danone and Wahaha, which is to introduce new investors to compensate Zong Qinghou, the former chairman of Wahaha Group. At the same time, all Wahaha's assets will be transferred to "Wahaha Beverages", and all Wahaha's equity will be transferred to the name of Wahaha Group.

Earlier this month, CITIC Group led a meeting in Hangzhou as a third-party investor. During the meeting, Danone said that if Zong Qinghou was willing, the original price of 4 billion yuan to acquire the non-joint venture company could be increased, but Zong Qinghou said he would not consider it.

Fan Yimou yesterday categorically denied the existence of such a "second plan" and emphasized that the resolution of the dispute between Danone and Wahaha would not be open to a third party. "We hope to resolve the dispute in a friendly way, but it has not happened yet."

On June 5, Zong Qinghou submitted his resignation. On June 6, Danone announced that it had accepted his resignation and appointed Fan Yimou as the head of the Wahaha joint venture. Chairman of the company.

On June 10, Wahaha Group spokesperson Shan Qining issued a statement saying that so far, Danone’s interim chairman announced to the media has not been in place. Wahaha's new directors also did not receive notice of the meeting of the board of directors. Shan Qining also said in the statement: "Currently, the cadres and employees of the joint venture are quite resistant to the two directors of Danone, and require Danone to make a public statement, make arrangements for the next step of the joint venture's production and operation, and regulate the economic income of the employees. "

As for the joint venture's next production, operation and sales plan, Shan Qining said that since Zong Qinghou has resigned, the joint venture's production and operation will be planned by the interim chairman and cannot be informed at the moment. .

Danone said in a statement yesterday that in order to achieve a smooth transition of the company's management changes, the current top priority is to convene a board meeting with the new Chinese directors as soon as possible to discuss the company's current business. and management status are discussed.

Shan Qining was unwilling to comment on Danone’s statement not to open to third parties yesterday, but he told reporters that Wahaha Group will hold its first media meeting in Hangzhou this afternoon, which will demonstrate Wahaha Group’s manner.

On June 12, Danone’s press conference in Shanghai was postponed for nearly half an hour. The press conference did not solve the issue of how the joint venture company operates that everyone is concerned about.

On June 13, Zong Qinghou, who resigned as chairman of the Wahaha-Danone joint venture, was interviewed by reporters for the first time and stated that Wahaha was preparing to submit an arbitration application to the Hangzhou Arbitration Commission to terminate the Wahaha Group’s joint venture with Wahaha-Danone. The company's agreement to transfer the right to use the trademark stated that "the first to file a complaint may not be justified."

On the same day, the Wahaha Zhejiang dealer conference was held. Although Zong Qinghou only stayed for a moment because he had to attend the 12th Party Congress of Zhejiang Province, he appeared as the chairman of Wahaha Group. He was still warmly welcomed.

More than 20 reporters were allowed to attend the dealer conference. Wahaha Public Relations Spokesperson Shan Qining explained, "(The conference) is completely open. It's up to reporters who they want to ask and what they want to ask. This is to let everyone know the truth."

Danone is Facing a hollow victory, although Zong Qinghou resigned as chairman of the joint venture on June 5, Danone, which has not participated in the management since the joint venture, is contacting the core management. Although Danone is convinced that legal arbitration will be supported, it has no plans for the Wahaha joint venture. Doubts are growing that the company can move forward properly.

Fan Yimou, who took over as the chairman of the joint venture company, is also facing embarrassment. This person, who is called by dealers "I have never met him in person, how can I trust him?" is learning Zong Qinghou's style - in the dealership A toast to the dealers at the business meeting.

Right now, the most urgent problem that Fan Yimou needs to solve is to ensure the smooth operation of the joint venture.

"We hope to continue to provide consumers with high-quality products during this peak sales season."

"We have proposed to convene a board of directors. For any company, if there are organizational or management changes, convene The board of directors is the first step. Only after the board of directors is convened can power be delegated to the management.

According to the agreement, the board of directors must convene 15 days after it is raised, but the problem waits for no one. At Wahaha's dealer conference in Zhejiang, many dealer representatives expressed concerns about Danone's ability to protect their interests.

Danone responded positively in a public statement. At the same time, Fan Yimou also admitted, "We must wait until we have good and sufficient communication with the management of the joint venture and gain more information before we know whether changes are needed and what means to adopt to make changes."

Affected by these uncertain factors, some second- and third-tier dealers have stopped purchasing and making payments to Wahaha since June. June is the golden season for beverage sales. Industry insiders say that for this highly seasonal product, the peak sales season of just a few months may contribute more than half to the entire year.

The financial report shows that from January to May this year, the joint venture's profit increased by 30.5% year-on-year, and its output value increased by 16.88%. However, Liu Zhimin, general manager of Wahaha Group Sales Company, also said that if Fan Yimou does not come up with feasible production and operation strategies and effective measures, the joint venture will definitely experience negative growth this year.

"The joint venture's current production is normal." Fan Yimou said, but he also admitted that in the medium term, the emergence of similar competitive sales channels will definitely have an impact on the joint venture.

Wu Jianlin, Director of the Production Department of Wahaha Group, confirmed that due to the reduction in orders, the start of the joint venture has been affected to a certain extent. Among them, the Very Coke and AD calcium milk product lines have a greater impact, and the net profit has also been affected to a certain extent.

Fan Yimou said that the normal operation of the joint venture company depends on the managers of 37 joint venture companies, and believes that the Hangzhou Municipal Government, as the owner of 49 equity interests in Wahaha Group, is working hard to resolve the matter.

But Danone’s stock market value has dropped by 10% since the war of words between the two sides in April. Danone headquarters had to take measures, and filing a lawsuit in the United States on June 4 was the decision of Danone headquarters.

On the Danone Group’s global website, the joint venture dispute in China was listed as the headline news. For Danone, which has many investments in China, how this joint venture dispute is resolved will definitely affect its strategy in China.