Dongpeng Beverage is pursuing an "A+H" dual listing strategy.

"When tired and weary, drink Dongpeng Special Drink." This advertising slogan once swept through streets and alleys, paired with eye-catching yellow bottle packaging, becoming the go-to choice for many while driving, exercising, or working. One bottle seemed to instantly "revive with full energy," earning Dongpeng Special Drink the nickname of the "instant life-saving artifact" in the functional beverage industry.

Recently, Dongpeng Beverage (Group) Co., Ltd. (605499.SH, referred to as "Dongpeng Beverage") once again submitted a main board listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, seeking an "A+H" dual platform layout. This marks the company's second assault on the Hong Kong stock market after its initial application expired in April this year.

Since landing on the A-share market in 2021, Dongpeng Beverage's market value once exceeded 100 billion yuan. As of October 10, 2025, the company's stock price closed at 311.68 yuan per share, with a market capitalization of 162.08 billion yuan.

Alongside the rising market value, a capital feast centered around Dongpeng Beverage has already begun. After the lifting of restricted stock sales in 2023, multiple shareholders including Kunpeng Investment and Junzheng Investment, as well as directors and executives, initiated share reductions. The company's cumulative 6.6 billion yuan in cash dividends since listing has also brought substantial returns to major shareholders. Taking actual controller Lin Muqin as an example, he has already received approximately 3.283 billion yuan through dividends alone.

Now, as Dongpeng Beverage makes its second attempt at Hong Kong listing, Kunpeng Investment, Junzheng Investment and others are poised to share in another capital feast alongside the Lin family.

**Annual Revenue of 10 Billion, Market Value of 100 Billion - The "Beverage King" Heads to Hong Kong**

When mentioning functional beverages, what comes to mind? Most people would immediately say "Red Bull." Besides this long-reigning champion, there's another brand often jokingly called the "eternal runner-up" - Dongpeng Beverage.

Dongpeng Beverage's history can be traced back to 1987. As an established beverage production enterprise in Shenzhen, it has undergone more than 30 years of development and has now become a leading functional beverage company in China.

All of this is inseparable from its helmsman Lin Muqin. Born in 1964 into an ordinary fishing family in Shanwei, Guangdong, Lin jumped to Shenzhen Aolin Natural Beverage Company in 1988 - this company was the contract manufacturer for the functional beverage Red Bull in China. Starting from the grassroots, he gained experience in production, procurement, sales and other positions, eventually rising to factory manager. Nine years of experience laid the groundwork for his future entrepreneurship.

In 1997, he joined Shenzhen Soy Milk Beverage Factory (Dongpeng Beverage's predecessor) as deputy general manager, responsible for sales work. This state-owned enterprise, established in 1987, primarily produced soy milk and herbal tea.

However, as market competition intensified, traditional soy milk powder gradually lost competitiveness, and the company faced a survival crisis.

To save the enterprise, Lin Muqin attempted to replicate Red Bull's model, launching "Dongpeng Special Drink" in 1998. By 2003, the soy milk beverage factory was on the verge of bankruptcy. Lin Muqin and 20 employees pooled 2.5366 million yuan to acquire the company's equity, privatizing the enterprise. Lin Muqin became the actual controller of the soy milk beverage factory, holding a 58.04% stake.

In 2009, he relaunched Dongpeng Special Drink. He positioned Dongpeng Special Drink as an "affordable energy beverage," with a main price point of 2-3 yuan, only half that of Red Bull, precisely targeting groups with relatively weaker purchasing power. Meanwhile, the company adopted PET plastic bottles instead of Red Bull's metal cans, adding a dust-proof cap design, which both reduced costs and improved user experience.

In 2013, when Red Bull changed its advertising slogan, abandoning the classic "When tired and weary, drink Red Bull," Lin Muqin adopted "When tired and weary, Dongpeng Special Drink" as the new advertising slogan and invited Nicholas Tse as spokesperson, strengthening brand recognition.

A bigger opportunity emerged in 2016. Red Bull fell into internal strife due to licensing and trademark issues, while Dongpeng Beverage seized the opportunity to expand market share. By 2019, Dongpeng Beverage's sales skyrocketed from 60 million to 2.1 billion yuan.

In 2021, Dongpeng Beverage listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming China's "first functional beverage stock." It was momentarily unrivaled after listing.

The company's stock price surged from the IPO price of 46.27 yuan per share on May 27, 2021, all the way to 207 yuan per share in July 2021, more than quadrupling. Throughout 2024, Dongpeng Beverage's stock price rose nearly 80%, far outperforming other beverage stocks, earning the title "beverage king." Entering 2025, the company's stock price reached a historical high of 278.49 yuan per share on January 10. As of the close on October 10, 2025, the stock price closed at 311.68 yuan per share, with a market capitalization of 162.08 billion yuan.

However, Dongpeng Beverage is not satisfied with its leading position in the domestic market. As early as 2022, it planned to issue global depositary receipts on the Swiss stock exchange, attempting to open international markets. Although the plan was shelved due to tightened listing requirements, Dongpeng Beverage has now set its sights on the Hong Kong stock market.

In terms of performance, Dongpeng Beverage has also shown impressive results. In 2024, the company achieved operating revenue of 15.83 billion yuan, an increase of 40.62% compared to 11.257 billion yuan in the same period last year; net profit reached 3.364 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63%.

In the first half of 2025, the company continued its growth momentum, with revenue reaching 10.737 billion yuan, an increase of 36.37% compared to 7.873 billion yuan in the same period last year; net profit was 2.375 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.22%.

By product category, Dongpeng Beverage's core weapon is the "Dongpeng Special Drink" series. From the 2-yuan 250ml gold brick to the 5-yuan 500ml gold bottle, the company covers various consumption scenarios with cost-effective products. In 2024, energy beverages alone contributed 13.303 billion yuan in revenue, accounting for 84% of total revenue.

According to a Frost & Sullivan report, in China's functional beverage market by sales volume, Dongpeng Beverage has ranked first for four consecutive years since 2021, with market share growing from 15% in 2021 to 26.3% in 2024. Among these, the core product "Dongpeng Special Drink" 500ml bottle ranked second in retail value in China's soft drink market in 2024.

However, Dongpeng Beverage is clearly not satisfied with the status quo. While single-product dependence has created glory, it also acts as a double-edged sword. Renowned economist Song Qinghui noted that an overly single product structure may bring two potential risks: first, weakening the company's risk resistance capability, and second, limiting the enhancement of core competitiveness and long-term development.

Therefore, the company began expanding its "second growth curve." Starting from 2022, the company launched multiple new products, including electrolyte beverage "Dongpeng Hydration," coffee-flavored beverage "Dongpeng Big Shot," alcoholic beverage "VIVI Cocktail," and tea beverage "Peng You Tea."

The company's product diversification strategy has shown results, with other beverage business revenue proportion rising from 3.3% in 2022 to 6.5% in 2024.

Among these, the sports drink "Dongpeng Hydration" was classified into the functional beverage segment in 2023. Since then, this product has grown rapidly, with annual revenue jumping from 393 million yuan in 2023 to 1.495 billion yuan in 2024, with its proportion rising from 3.5% to 9.4%. By the first half of 2025, its proportion had reached 13.9%, exceeding the combined proportion of all other beverage categories (8.2%), establishing its position as the second-largest single product.

The new product "Dongpeng Hydration" also focuses on extreme cost-effectiveness. According to a research report, compared to competitors Pocari Sweat and Alien priced at 10 yuan/L, and brands like Scream and Gatorade priced above 8 yuan/L, "Hydration" entered the market at 7.21 yuan/L, significantly lower than competitors. Meanwhile, leveraging strong R&D and channel capabilities, Dongpeng precisely positioned it in sports hydration scenarios like gyms and sports venues, showing rapid growth momentum.

**Product Criticized as "Sugar Assassin" and "Difficult Prize Redemption"**

Behind the growth of Dongpeng Beverage and its "second growth curve" - the electrolyte beverage "Hydration" - lies the company's heavy investment in marketing.

The company promotes through comprehensive channels including print advertising, elevator screens, bus body advertisements, and TV series product placements, highlighting the "rapid electrolyte replenishment" function, while collaborating with young actor Yu Shi for promotional endorsements.

Additionally, Dongpeng Beverage partners with national television stations and local satellite TVs, frequently broadcasting the "When tired and weary, drink Dongpeng Special Drink" advertising slogan. The company also utilizes elevator media placement, subway station wrapping, and Asian Games sponsorship to strengthen its "national brand" image, and has sponsored the King of Glory Professional League and RNG team for two consecutive years, deeply covering multiple consumption scenarios.

However, this high-intensity promotion has led to continuously rising sales expenses. From 2022 to the first half of 2025, the company's cumulative distribution and sales expenses totaled 7.768 billion yuan.

Specifically, from 2022 to 2024, the company's distribution and sales expenses rose from 1.449 billion yuan to 2.681 billion yuan, though the proportion of total revenue slightly decreased from 17.1% to 16.9%. In the first half of 2025, this expense was 1.682 billion yuan, with the proportion dropping to 15.7%.

To stimulate consumption, Dongpeng Beverage launched promotional activities like "Scan for Red Packets" and "One Yuan Enjoyment." The latter is a regular exchange model, where bottle caps printed with "One Yuan Enjoyment" allow consumers to pay an additional one yuan to merchants for a new bottle. The former is the "Scan for Red Packets" activity, driving consumers to complete repeat purchases within 24 hours.

Through bottle-opening rewards, Dongpeng Special Drink not only enhanced consumer stickiness but also gained precise understanding of daily actual consumption through big data feedback, using this to improve product strength and formulate channel policies.

In November 2019, Dongpeng Beverage founder Lin Muqin publicly stated, "So far, 117 million IP numbers have scanned my WeChat red packets."

However, these activities have generated numerous complaints. As of October 10, 2025, the Black Cat Complaint platform has 1,223 complaints against Dongpeng Beverage, mainly involving invalid prize redemptions, false advertising, and complex redemption rules.

Regarding "One Yuan Enjoyment," many consumers complained that winning bottle caps showed invalid codes when scanned by merchants, or merchants directly refused redemption.

For the "Scan for Red Packets" activity, according to activity rules, Dongpeng Special Drink bottle caps contain red packet QR codes with maximum winnings of 4 yuan, but consumers must purchase a second bottle within 24 hours to cash out the red packet from the previous bottle.

Consumers reported complex and problematic rules. Some users stated that after winning a 4-yuan red packet from the first bottle, purchasing a second bottle within 40 minutes showed the previous win as "not won."

Other consumers reported on the Black Cat Complaint platform that after purchasing a Dongpeng Special Drink on November 24, 2024, the inner cap showed a 4-yuan red packet win. After the first bottle win, following prompts to purchase a second bottle for code scanning and red packet redemption, the second bottle had no winning code, and scanning couldn't redeem the prize. Even returning to the first bottle's scanning page for re-operation still prompted that the winning code was used, requiring a third bottle purchase for redemption. Users directly accused Dongpeng Beverage of "malicious marketing."

Beijing commercial dispute lawyer Zhai Tianhang stated that if merchants fail to honor prizes according to published promotional materials, or if redemption quantities are far less than promised prize quantities and winning probabilities before the promotional sales, this constitutes false advertising, misleading consumers, and in severe cases may constitute fraud.

Additionally, Dongpeng Special Drink has been labeled a "sugar assassin." On September 2, 2024, Consumer Reports sent 12 functional beverages to third-party authoritative testing institutions. Test results showed that Nestle, Rigagem, and Monster belonged to the "low sugar" category, while eight products including Livita, Dongpeng Special Drink, and Red Bull all belonged to the "high sugar" category.

Dongpeng Special Drink had the highest sugar content, with each bottle (500mL) containing up to 66.5g of sugar, equivalent to consuming 14.6 sugar cubes (calculated at 4.54g sugar per cube), earning the "sugar assassin" label from netizens.

In response, Dongpeng Special Drink replied: "The safety and functionality of our formula have been evaluated and approved by relevant national departments. Meanwhile, our product labels clearly recommend one bottle per day."

However, according to research data from the Chinese Nutrition Society, healthy adults in China should limit daily added sugar intake to within 25g, with a maximum not exceeding 50g.

Meanwhile, Dongpeng Special Drink's taurine content is significantly lower than main competitors. As a key anti-fatigue component, taurine is core to functional beverages, but Dongpeng contains only 53.2mg per 100g, less than one-third of Red Bull's content.

Regarding the lower taurine content issue, Dongpeng Beverage responded: "In Dongpeng Special Drink vitamin functional beverage product technical requirements, taurine content is required to be 40-60mg/100mL. Our products meet national health food technical requirements in production process monitoring, factory inspection, and third-party legal inspection agency testing."

Renowned economist Song Qinghui noted that in today's era of increasing health consciousness, Dongpeng Beverage has rapidly captured market share through high-intensity advertising and complex promotions, but problems in health attributes and marketing methods are gradually being exposed.

**Who Shares the Capital Feast with the Lin Family?**

With the company's rising market value, the Lin family behind Dongpeng Beverage has also become a focus of capital markets.

According to the prospectus, as of the first half of 2025, the company's main shareholders include Lin Muqin, HKSCC Nominees Limited, Lin Mugang, Lin Daiqin, Kunpeng Investment, Zhuang Jianen, and Lin Yupeng, holding 49.74%, 9.9%, 5.22%, 5.22%, 5.06%, 5.06%, and 5.06% respectively. Additionally, Cai Yunsheng, Chen Haiming, and Junzheng Investment under Jiachang Capital hold 1.91%, 1%, and 1% respectively.

Notable are the close family relationships among shareholders: Lin Muqin and Lin Mugang are brothers, Lin Daiqin is Lin Muqin's nephew, and Lin Yupeng, the actual controller of Kunpeng Investment, is Lin Muqin's son. Chen Huanming, a limited partner of Kunpeng Investment, and shareholder Chen Haiming are both brothers of Lin Muqin's wife Chen Huiling.

On May 27, 2023, Dongpeng Beverage welcomed large-scale restricted stock lifting. Just three days later, 13 shareholders and executives including Kunpeng Investment and Cai Yunsheng announced reduction plans, intending to collectively reduce holdings by no more than 8.94% of total shares through centralized bidding and block trading between June 20 and December 17, 2023.

According to calculations, if estimated at the closing price of 119.29 yuan per share on May 30, 2023, the Lin Muqin family could cash out approximately 4.445 billion yuan from this reduction. Since the actual reduction starting date of June 20 saw stock prices rise to 132.32 yuan per share, higher than the reference price, actual cash-out scale might have further expanded.

Shareholder reduction pace continued thereafter.

In February 2025, Kunpeng Investment planned to reduce holdings by no more than 7.169 million shares due to its own capital needs. Based on October 10, 2025 stock prices, this is expected to generate approximately 2.2 billion yuan in cash.

Meanwhile, former largest shareholder Junzheng Investment has reduced holdings multiple times since 2022, cumulatively cashing out approximately 3.371 billion yuan, publicly citing "own capital needs" as the reason. Other shareholders including Cai Yunsheng, Chen Haiming, and Chen Yimin have also successively reduced holdings, cashing out approximately 17.07 million yuan, 21.61 million yuan, and 4.57 million yuan respectively.

Besides reduction profits, Dongpeng Beverage also rewards shareholders through continuous dividends. According to Wind data, the company has implemented 7 cash dividend distributions since listing in 2021, totaling 6.6 billion yuan. Based on Lin Muqin's shareholding proportion, he has received approximately 3.283 billion yuan through dividends over four years.

Following A-share reductions, Dongpeng Beverage seeks Hong Kong listing. According to reports, the company plans to raise approximately $1 billion (about 7.123 billion yuan) primarily for overseas expansion and R&D investment.

With the company's market value growth and multiple rounds of capital operations, the Lin Muqin family's wealth has significantly increased. In the 2024 Forbes Global Rich List, Lin Muqin and family ranked with $6.8 billion (approximately 49 billion yuan) in wealth, becoming the new generation "Shanwei, Guangdong richest."

If this Hong Kong listing proceeds smoothly, the Lin family, along with institutions like Kunpeng Investment and Junzheng Investment, are poised to welcome a new round of capital feast.

Have you tried Dongpeng Special Drink? How did it taste?