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May 8 (NBD) -- China's biggest and most valuable liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Group (Moutai Group) is to go through management changes, as its Chairman Yuan Renguo announced his resignation Sunday evening.

It had been nearly seven years since Yuan Renguo took the position as chairman of Moutai Group. Yuan's successor will be Li Baofang who joined the company as general manager in 2015.

Yuan Renguo set Moutai Group onto the track of healthy and reasonable development and defined the position and value of Moutai liquor, while Li Baofang, with his strong sense of responsibility and innovation, will lead the company towards better development, commented Wan Xinggui, a liquor expert.

In late 2015, Moutai Group set the goal of achieving 100-billion-yuan (15.7-billion-U.S.-dollar) revenue by 2020, with liquor business taking up 65-70 percent of the total and non-alcoholic business the remaining 30-35 percent.

According to public information released on the official website of Moutai Group, the company's business domain covers liquor, wine, securities, banking, insurance, property management, scientific research, tourism and property development.

Wan held the liquor sector is undoubtedly the main driving force for Moutai Group to realize the 100-billion-yuan revenue by 2020. The company has built certain presence in some fields including finance, securities and insurance which in combination can become a supporting point for further expansion. In addition, the company is also making forays into areas which have a strong correlation with the primary businesses, like packaging and ecological agriculture, analyzed Wan.

Among all those non-alcoholic domains, Moutai Group placed great expectations on the financial sector, hoping to build the sector the biggest driver of revenue and profits except for the liquor businesses.

The liquor group brought up the plan to post a revenue of 15 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the financial businesses by 2020, contributing 15.17 percent to the company's total.

In order to enhance its influence and presence in the financial sector, Moutai Group has accelerated its expansion steps recently. The group set up a financial holdings company in August 2017 and participated in the establishment of a asset management company later in October last year.

However, the financial businesses constituted a comparatively small proportion of Moutai Group. According to a report of the media portal jiuyejia.com, the financial sector of the liquor giant posted 600 million yuan (94.2 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2017, whereas Moutai Group’s core subsidiary, Kweichow Moutai Co. reaped a revenue of approximately 58.2 billion yuan (9.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017.

Li once commented in public his company would seek a diversified development in the financial sector and keep expansion gradually, yet the company wouldn't engage too much in unfamiliar sectors.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn