An inheritance battle following the death of revered Chinese beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou, the late founder of Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. Ltd., has unearthed a sprawling international portfolio of luxury real estate and financial assets, including a bank account holding $1.8 billion.
Legal and property records reviewed by Caixin show that the Zong family made substantial investments in prestigious international assets — ranging from a hillside mansion in Hong Kong’s elite Barker Road district to a palatial Bel Air estate once owned by prominent hotel magnates. These revelations have led to a reassessment of Zong’s long-cultivated image as a frugal entrepreneur.
Zong, who passed away in February 2024, built Wahaha from scratch into one of China’s most successful beverage empires. His typically low-key persona was thrust into the spotlight during a prolonged legal feud in the 2000s between Wahaha and French food giant Danone SA, a battle over corporate control that played out in international courts and media.
Now the tycoon’s private life is coming under renewed scrutiny after three individuals, previously unknown to the public, filed inheritance lawsuits on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong. They claim to be Zong’s children and are contesting the estate with his only publicly acknowledged child, daughter Zong Fuli, who is the designated heiress to Wahaha.
The Zong family’s presence in Hong Kong is centered on a duplex mansion in Altadena House, a Barker Road development that is home to top officials and business elites, including the city’s Chief Secretary, the U.S. Consul General and business magnates such as Henderson Land’s Lee Shau-kee and Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma.
According to Hong Kong Land Registry records, the 378-square-meter property is held by Sealine Holdings Limited, a local corporation whose sole director since 2017 is Zong’s widow, Shi Youzhen. Holding a property via a corporate entity is a common strategy among Hong Kong’s ultra-wealthy to minimize transaction taxes.
No sale price was recorded in the land registry but public records showed that a comparable unit in the complex sold for HK$248 million ($31.6 million) in November 2024.
Zong Fuli has also benefited from Hong Kong’s property boom. In 2009, she bought a high-rise apartment in Mid-Levels for HK$11.1 million without a mortgage and sold it in 2018 for HK$26 million — a 136% gain.
The family’s real estate footprint extends to the United States. In early January 2024, shortly before Zong’s death, the family paid $25 million in an all-cash deal for a three-story mansion in Los Angeles’s exclusive Bel Air neighborhood, according to the Robb Report. The price represented a 55% discount from its initial $55 million listing price. Previously owned by Rick and Kathy Hilton, the villa includes 12 bedroom suites and a pool.
The family also once owned a Spanish-style manor in San Marino, where Zong Fuli attended high school. The family's deep ties to the U.S. have long been a source of controversy. Caixin reported that Zong Qinghou received a U.S. green card in 1999, which he later gave up. His daughter held U.S. citizenship until renouncing it in 2010. Zong’s younger brother and his family also became American citizens.
The family's offshore holdings go back nearly two decades, rooted in the Wahaha-Danone dispute. In 2007, Danone accused the Zong family of operating 87 unauthorized companies — many registered in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands — selling Wahaha-branded products outside the joint venture’s purview. Assets tied to these entities totaled 5.6 billion yuan by 2006.
Legal proceedings spanned courts from Los Angeles to the British Virgin Islands. While Wahaha won in all mainland suits, a Stockholm tribunal found Wahaha had violated non-competition and confidentiality agreements. The feud ended in 2009 when Zong agreed to buy out Danone’s 51% stake for 300 million euros — far below the 5 billion euros Danone initially demanded.
Overseas business filings viewed by Caixin show that Zong Fuli acquired a British Virgin Islands firm — Purple Mystery Investment Ltd. — in 2015, for which she remains the legal representative. This entity shares a registered Hong Kong address with another family-controlled business, Hongsheng Beverage (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd. Shi, Zong Fuli’s mother, is the sole director.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
