Evergrande Group eyes more consumer goods businesses

Guangzhou-based property developer, Evergrande Real Estate Group, will develop more consumer goods in the near future, after the company successfully launched a bottled water business, a top company manager said.

"Entering the business of consumer goods is one of our major long-term strategies to sustain business growth," Xu Jiayin, board chairman of the group, said at a meeting on Sunday in Qingyuan, Guangdong province.

Xu said the company will concentrate on its newly launched bottled water business, Evergrande Spring, by expanding its sales network to 2 million stores in 2014.

"We will develop various packages of the bottled water to meet the increasing demand from the domestic market. Moreover, we will develop other consumer goods in the near future after the bottled water business proves successful in the market," Xu said.

The Hong Kong-listed real estate developer has expanded its business to the property, hotel, consumer goods, health, sport and cultural sectors.

The company has set a lofty goal to increase the annual capacity of its bottled water to 15 million metric tons in the next 5-8 years and for sales to exceed 100 billion yuan ($16.54 billion) over that same period, Xu said.

"We have seen a good result from investing in the soccer business after winning the AFC Champions League last year. And now it is the right time for us to enter the consumer goods industry," Xu said.

The group-owned soccer club, Guangzhou Evergrande, claimed the Asian continental title on Nov 9, after it became three-time winner of the Chinese Super League.