He Xiangjian, the 83-year-old founder of Midea Group Co.,Ltd. (000333.SZ, 0300.HK) and Foshan's richest man, is pursuing his family's tenth IPO.
On the evening of August 27, Ande Smart Supply Chain Technology Co., Ltd. ("Ande Smart Supply Chain"), a subsidiary of Midea Group Co.,Ltd., officially submitted its main board listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, appointing CICC Hong Kong Securities, Morgan Stanley Asia, and CLSA as joint sponsors.
This company, incubated from Midea's logistics business, has taken a crucial step toward entering the capital market.
**01 Ande Smart Supply Chain's Growth Path**
Ande Smart Supply Chain's predecessor was Ande Logistics, established in 2000, initially focusing exclusively on group logistics operations.
After three years of development, Ande Logistics began expanding into diversified logistics sectors including B2C and C2C.
In 2017, Midea Group Co.,Ltd. announced its transformation and renamed Ande Logistics to Ande Smart Supply Chain, elevating its strategic positioning to smart logistics.
Since then, Ande Smart Supply Chain has sought to expand beyond Midea into external markets.
By 2022, the company had provided integrated supply chain solutions to over 3,000 large and medium-sized enterprises, launching a "1+3" supply chain service model: end-to-end logistics capabilities combined with three core solution pillars - production logistics, unified warehousing and distribution, and last-mile delivery and installation integration.
According to research by Frost & Sullivan, among China's top five comprehensive integrated supply chain logistics solution providers, Ande Smart Supply Chain achieved the highest revenue compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2024.
Based on 2024 revenue, Ande Smart Supply Chain ranked first among production logistics solution providers within China's comprehensive integrated supply chain logistics solution providers and is the largest integrated supply chain logistics solution provider in China's home appliance industry.
According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2024, Ande Smart Supply Chain's revenue grew from 14.173 billion yuan to 18.663 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.8%. Net profit increased from 215 million yuan to 380 million yuan over the same period, achieving a compound growth rate of 33.0%.
In the first half of 2025, the company achieved revenue of 10.885 billion yuan, up 20.2% year-on-year, with net profit of 248 million yuan, up 21.7% year-on-year.
Ande Smart Supply Chain disclosed that its customer base continues to expand, with 2,388 clients having collaborated for more than three years as of 2024. Its customer portfolio spans multiple industries including home appliances, fast-moving consumer goods, automotive and components.
Over the past three years and the first half of this year, Ande Smart Supply Chain's top five customers contributed 49.8%, 48.6%, 52.1%, and 49.7% of revenue respectively, accounting for approximately half of the company's total revenue.
Notably, a significant proportion of the company's revenue still comes from parent company Midea. From 2022 to 2024, revenue from largest customer Midea accounted for 37.7%, 36.6%, and 41.1% respectively.
In the first half of this year, this proportion was 40.4%, consistently exceeding 36% over the past three years.
This high dependence on related parties was also a key reason for its unsuccessful A-share listing attempts.
Regarding this issue, Midea directly stated in a spin-off proposal at the end of April: "Ande Smart Supply Chain generates a relatively high proportion of revenue and gross profit from related party sales with our group."
Meanwhile, Midea also expects Ande Smart Supply Chain to maintain substantial cooperation with it for a certain period in the future.
**02 Winding IPO Journey: Three Attempts Over Sixteen Years**
Ande Smart Supply Chain's pursuit of independent listing can be traced back to 2009.
At that time, the company planned to list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext board but was rejected due to excessively high related party transaction ratios with its parent company.
In 2013, after Midea Group Co.,Ltd. completed its overall listing, Ande Smart Supply Chain's independent listing plan was shelved again.
In 2017, during the year when the group's major transformation was officially announced, Midea expressed intentions to promote Ande Smart Supply Chain's independent listing.
It wasn't until July 2023 that Midea's board approved a proposal to initiate preliminary preparations for spinning off subsidiary Ande Smart Supply Chain for listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's main board.
In December 2023, CICC submitted pre-listing counseling filing to the Anhui Bureau of China Securities Regulatory Commission on behalf of Ande Smart Supply Chain.
However, after CICC released its fourth quarterly counseling progress report in January this year, information indicated that Ande Smart Supply Chain withdrew its IPO counseling filing.
On April 29 this year, while releasing its first-quarter earnings report, Midea announced plans to spin off Ande Smart Supply Chain for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's main board. After the spin-off, Midea will maintain control over Ande Smart Supply Chain.
Notably, this is not Midea's first attempt at spinning off subsidiaries for listing.
While pursuing Ande Smart Supply Chain's independent listing, Midea also made efforts to plan for subsidiary Midea Smart Optoelectronics.
However, in December 2023, Midea Smart Optoelectronics, which focuses on lighting and smart pre-installed product design, development, production and sales, withdrew its ChiNext IPO application for the second time.
Since then, no news of restarting listing plans has emerged from Midea Smart Optoelectronics.
From the current situation, Ande Smart Supply Chain has surpassed Midea Smart Optoelectronics to become the most promising candidate for He Xiangjian family's tenth IPO.
Looking at the industry, Haier's logistics division Ririshun has similarly experienced a bumpy listing journey.
After being deconsolidated from its parent company's consolidated statements in 2018, Ririshun's listing application materials were accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext board in May 2021, taking three years to successfully pass review.
However, after failing to submit registration more than a year after approval, Ririshun withdrew its issuance and listing application in October 2024.
Perhaps seeing the challenging A-share IPO experiences of Midea Smart Optoelectronics and Ririshun, Ande Smart Supply Chain chose to pursue a Hong Kong IPO instead.
**03 The 10th IPO? He Xiangjian Family's Capital Landscape**
If Ande Smart Supply Chain successfully lists, the He Xiangjian family will directly or indirectly control 10 listed companies.
According to incomplete statistics, over the past decade, the He Xiangjian family has controlled 9 listed companies, including Midea Group Co.,Ltd., Hiconics Eco-Energy Technology Co.,Ltd. (300048.SZ), Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co.,Ltd. (600055.SH), Shenzhen Clou Electronics Co.,Ltd. (002121.SZ), Midea Real Estate (3990.HK), Infore Environment Technology Group Co.,Ltd. (000967.SZ), Beijing Baination Pictures Co.,Ltd. (300291.SZ), Jason Furniture(Hangzhou)Co.,Ltd. (603816.SH), and Orinko Advanced Plastics Co.,Ltd. (688219.SH).
These include both enterprises acquired through acquisition and assets controlled by He Xiangjian's only son He Jianfeng and eldest daughter He Qianchang respectively.
From this perspective, the He Xiangjian family not only controls a 500 billion yuan home appliance giant in the capital market but also spans multiple industries including environmental protection, healthcare, and home furnishing.
Behind this capital expansion path is He Xiangjian's long-term commitment to diversified layout.
Now 83 years old, He Xiangjian established a plastic factory in his hometown of Beijiao, Shunde in 1968, entered the home appliance industry by manufacturing fans in 1980, and achieved Midea Electric's listing in 1993, becoming China's first listed company reformed from a township enterprise.
In 2012, He Xiangjian handed over leadership to professional manager Fang Hongbo, entering a new phase for Midea.
In September 2024, Midea listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming another "A+H" share listed company, raising 31 billion Hong Kong dollars.
In recent years, Midea's revenue growth has fluctuated, with rates of 2.9%, 20.92%, 1.16%, 8.59%, and 9.44% from 2020 to 2024 respectively.
Against the backdrop of maturing home appliance core business, Midea actively incubates IPOs for its subsidiary businesses. Logistics, as one important track, carries expectations for spin-off listing and independent financing.
After completing a series of financing rounds in June 2025, Ande Smart Supply Chain also introduced shareholders other than Midea, including Hisense Group and Tianjin Shunhe.
The prospectus shows that in Ande Smart Supply Chain's pre-listing shareholder structure, Midea's wholly-owned subsidiary Midea Smart Connect holds 52.94%, serving as the controlling shareholder.
Besides several holding platforms for Ande and Midea, other investors include Hisense Electronic Technology, wholly owned by Hisense, holding 22.03%, Tianjin Shunhe holding 2.90%, Zhongding Shengguan holding 1.45%, Yinshan Zhineng holding 0.72%, and Meike Qixin holding 0.43%.
Through future Hong Kong stock market financing, Ande Smart Supply Chain hopes to expand international supply chain services and promote end-to-end digital intelligence upgrades.
**04 Many "Midea People"**
As a Midea subsidiary, Ande Smart Supply Chain's core team almost entirely comes from Midea.
The prospectus shows that Ande Smart Supply Chain's board consists of 9 directors, including 2 executive directors, 4 non-executive directors, and 3 independent non-executive directors.
The 2 executive directors are: 48-year-old Liang Pengfei, Chairman and President of Ande Smart Supply Chain; and 43-year-old Ma Liang, Chief Financial Officer and Board Secretary of Ande Smart Supply Chain.
Liang Pengfei joined Ande Smart Supply Chain as Director, Chairman and President in July 2019, and was redesignated as Executive Director in August 2025.
Before joining Ande Smart Supply Chain, he worked at Midea for approximately 20 years, deeply participating in Midea Group Co.,Ltd.'s "T+3" production and sales model and omni-channel "unified inventory" business reforms.
Ma Liang joined Ande Smart Supply Chain as Chief Financial Officer in December 2019, currently mainly responsible for the company's overall strategic planning, financial strategy-related matters, and board affairs.
Before joining Ande Smart Supply Chain, Ma Liang worked at Midea Group Co.,Ltd. for over 10 years, serving as financial management head and Finance Department head for multiple divisions of Midea Group Co.,Ltd.
Like Liang Pengfei and Ma Liang, non-executive director Luo Wenhui joined Midea immediately after graduation, obtaining her Bachelor's degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in June 2006.
Non-executive director Chen Lihong followed the same path, joining Midea after obtaining her Master's degree in Accounting from Wuhan University of Technology in March 2005.
Additionally, Duan Yuebin followed a similar trajectory, joining Hisense after obtaining his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and Automation from Taiyuan University of Technology in July 2003.
Statistically, all of Ande Smart Supply Chain's executive directors come from Midea, while among non-executive director seats, Midea occupies 3 and Hisense occupies 1.
This Midea talent chain ensures strategic consistency to some extent but may still lead to questions about Ande Smart Supply Chain's independence from its parent company.
The prospectus shows that the two employees receiving the highest compensation over the past three years were Ande Smart Supply Chain's two executive directors.
From 2022 to 2024, Ande Smart Supply Chain paid Liang Pengfei compensation of 9.727 million yuan, 7.13 million yuan, and 8.785 million yuan respectively.
Over the same period, Ande Smart Supply Chain paid Ma Liang compensation of 2.461 million yuan, 2.349 million yuan, and 2.388 million yuan respectively.
Offering nearly 10 million yuan in annual salary, Midea indeed places high expectations on Liang Pengfei leading Ande Smart Supply Chain.
**05 Conclusion**
According to Frost & Sullivan data, China's integrated supply chain logistics solutions market is expected to grow from approximately 3.10 trillion yuan in 2024 to 4.67 trillion yuan in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.5%.
As manufacturing evolves toward efficiency and intelligence, the upgrade demand for production logistics and terminal distribution is increasingly urgent, presenting considerable opportunities for the industry.
Ande Smart Supply Chain's advantage lies in leveraging Midea Group Co.,Ltd.'s deep manufacturing background to form comprehensive solutions from production to consumption.
However, the company also faces challenges:
First, high customer concentration and over-dependence on Midea remains a capital market focus;
Second, intense industry competition, with players like Ririshun, JD Logistics, and Cainiao having deep cultivation in supply chain logistics for years;
Third, high service costs, with gross margins maintained around 7% over the past three years, indicating unremarkable profitability.
For the He Xiangjian family, Ande Smart Supply Chain's IPO pursuit is not only a capital operation but also a strategic gambit.
If successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Ande Smart Supply Chain will help Midea Group Co.,Ltd. further optimize industrial layout and enhance capital operation space.
However, if it fails to resolve over-dependence on its parent company, market recognition of its independent value will remain limited.
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