Hongta Group Acquires Bulk of Shares in Laos-China Fortune Tobacco Co.

Source from:  Special Report by TobaccoChina Online 08/04/2008

Hongta Group in southwest China's tobacco-producing Yunnan Province - the largest Chinese tobacco manufacturer - has acquired 61 percent of the shares in the Laos-China Fortune Tobacco Co., Ltd. in Laos, becoming the largest shareholder in it. After the share acquisition, the Laos-China Fortune Tobacco Co., Ltd. was officially renamed the Laos-China Hongta Fortune Tobacco Co., Ltd. On July 28, 2008, a grand ceremony was held in the Lao capital city of Vientiane to rename the enterprise and to present a new product of the Marble cigarette brand to the market. As a result of the share acquisition, the Laos-China Hongta Fortune Tobacco Co., Ltd. is now licensed to produce Hongta's Xinxing brand cigarettes that are well sold in Southeast Asia, to meet the growing demand for the supply of Xinxing brand cigarettes in the region. The Laos-China Fortune Tobacco Co., Ltd. in Laos was established in 1992, with the shares previously held by south China's Hainan Tobacco Company. According to Hongta's planning for international markets development, Laos will be a major production base and raw material growing base for Hongta in its endeavor to develop markets in Southeast Asia. The establishment of production bases and raw material growing bases in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signifies that Hongta has made substantive progress in overseas operation from general trade onto the operation of enterprises locally. In reality, Hongta Group has over recent years strengthened efforts to reform the structure of its cigarette brands on the domestic market, forming a new structure of relatively highly competitive cigarettes brands. On the basis of this success, Hongta Group, in accordance with prevalent international flavors and consumer demand, has managed to further reform the structure of its existing cigarette brands and the structure its markets, successively developing a series of marketable new products, with the structure of both products and markets turning increasingly rational. So far, Hongta Group has succeeded in exporting products to Hong Kong and Macao of China and countries in Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and America, ranking itself among the biggest Chinese tobacco manufacturers in terms of exports. Meanwhile, in the process of developing international markets, Hongta Group has managed to further concentrate its cigarette products onto big competitive brands by reforming the structure of products and changing specifications. So far, Hongta's major cigarette exports have included Yuxi, Mount Hongtashan, Marble, Xinxing and Ashima. In particular, Marble is mainly sold to markets in Europe and Africa while Yuxi and Mount Hongtashan are sold mainly to Southeast Asia, North America and Australia. Enditem