World’s top liquor brand is also China’s largest public company

Kweichow Moutai, the Chinese company known for making the popular national spirit, baijiu, is now claiming another first, this time as ‘the biggest public company in mainland China by market capitalisation’, according to data from Refinitiv.
It is currently valued at more than Rmb 1.8 trillion (US$259 billion), surpassing one of the country’s top banks, the Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICB) of China, which is worth just under US$253 billion.
Meanwhile, Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba are worth about US$605 billion and US$614 billion respectively, however these 2 are listed in Hong Kong and New York.
Kweichow Moutai has also retained its reputation as the world’s top liquor brand since 2017 when it surpassed Diageo, the owner of Johnie Walker brand which is currently valued at just US$81 billion. Meanwhile, AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, is worth about US$88 billion.
With its overly high valuation, Chinese authorities have now urged investors to take a rational view and not engage in speculation.