BEIJING, September 22 (TMTPost)— Kweichow Moutai, China’s top distilled spirit brand well-known as the national liquor, is ramping up efforts to improve returns after successful launch of consumer goods.

Credit：Visual China

Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. and its private equity (PE) unit Moutai (Guizhou) Private Fund Management Co., Ltd. recently invested RMB200 million to launch Moutai Technology and Innovation (Beijing) Investment Fund Limited Partner (LP), according to Aiqicha, provider of information about Chinese companies. Businesses of the new investment firm will include funding startups, engaging in equity investment, investment management, asset management and other activities through private equity funds.

This is Moutai PE arm’s new move following inception of two funds with RMB10 billion. Moutai announced in May the establishment of two funds, co-operated with China Merchants Capital and Goldstone Investment, a PE arm of China Merchants Group and CITIC Securities. The funds, of RMB5.5 billion each, focus on cutting-edge information technology sectors, such as biotechnology, new energy, new materials and high-end equipment, different from previous investments that mainly focused on the consumption industry. Moutai’s PE unit has registered a total of five funds with Asset Management Association of China (AMAC). According to the self-regulatory institution, the PE has a record of investments in various sectors such as food and beverages, new materials.

Moutai PE’s two funds showcased a cross-boundary trend of investment diversification by traditional consumer giants in order to boost financial returns, Experts commented. Hard technology would become a top investment area for investors this year as China aims to boost its technological prowess, said Xiao Bing, executive partner of investment firm Fortune Capital.

Moutai’s investment effort came after the leading liquor distiller gained more traction from new products with consumer goods partners, which were deemed as Moutai’s effort to woo young generation.

Chinese coffee giant Luckin Coffee started offering sauce-flavored latte, a drink co-branded with Moutai, on September 4. Each cup of the new latte, priced at RMB38.00, is made with coffee and thick milk that contains alcohol less than 0.5% of overall content. The alcohol content comes from Feitian Moutai, the flagship Moutai offering which has 53% alcohol. Luckin said it sold more than 54.2 million cups of the sauce-flavored latte with the sales topping RMB100 million on the first day of its launch. The new drink broke daily sales record of a single offering for the coffee company founded in 2017. That is such an outstanding result compared with previous hits, such as the cheese latte that sold 1.31 million cups on its launch day.

Maoxiaoling Liquor-filled chocolate, a product co-developed by Moutai and Dove, a U.S. chocolate brand owned by Mars, went on sale last Saturday. The chocolate run out of stock within just one minute at various online marketplace, and it was unavailable at offline stores such as the Moutai Ice Cream shop in ten minutes, Chinese news media outlets reported.  The chocolate box, stared at RMB35.00, contains Feitian Moutai, the flagship Moutai offering which has 53% alcohol.

At a recent event for the chocolate, Moutai Chairman Ding Xiongjun declared the development of "+Moutai" derivative products came to an end as the new chocolate debuted. Moutai’s subsidiary Moutai International Hotel has worked with the most influential state-owned enterprises, private companies and foreign enterprises in the wine, culture, tourism and wellness industry to complete a product matrix with different types, prices and distinctive features, namely, to drink Moutai, taste foods made with Moutai and Moutai icecream, drink Moutai-flavored coffee and eat Moutai-filled chocoloate, Ding said. In face of an era with new consumption trends, Moutai, as one of China’s most historic brands, has to embrace young generation and so-called Generation Z, which means, people born between 1996 and 2010, Ding stressed.