(Yicai Global) Dec. 5 -- An affiliate of leading Chinese liquor maker Kweichow Moutai recently spent more than CNY1 billion (USD144 million) to acquire land in Zunyi, southwestern Guizhou province.

According to a report by Securities Daily today, industry insiders believe the move means that Kweichow Moutai Group Distillery, the parent company of Kweichow Moutai, will increase its efforts to position itself in the culture, tourism and wellness sectors.

On Dec. 2, Zunyi’s municipal public resources trading center announced that it recently sold the land-use rights of two plots to the winning bidder Zunyi Wenkang Real Estate Development for a total of about CNY1.05 billion (USD151.6 million). The land can be used for both commercial and residential properties, per the plan.

Zunyi Wenkang is a wholly owned unit of China Kweichow Moutai Group Distillery’s property investment development arm, which shares the same parent as the liquor maker Kweichow Moutai. The latter is a leading distiller of baijiu, a colorless Chinese traditional liquor.

Founded in 2012, Kweichow Moutai parent’s real estate investment and development arm is mainly engaged in the building of urban infrastructure and the development as well as operation of big integrated commercial properties.

“Wellness tourism is a newly emerging sector that is being vigorously promoted by many Chinese regions, and Guizhou boasts unique advantages in this regard,” said Shen Meng, chief strategist at Guangzhou-based Guangke Consultancy. “Kweichow Moutai Group will leverage its funding edge to position itself in related industries, which will bring vitality to the local economic environment.”

“Kweichow Moutai Group has a large cash flow and has now grown into a more diversified investor,” Xiao Zhuqing, a liquor industry insider and chairman of Wuhan-based Jingkui Technology, pointed out.

As early as 2011, Kweichow Moutai’s parent company made it clear that in addition to distilling, it would diversify into real estate. In that year, the group bought the first and second phases of the North Ring Beihuan Center in Beijing and leased 28 floors of the building. In 2012, it set up its property investment and development arm, seen as the group’s official entry into the property sector.

Unlike general real estate developers that favor residential properties, however, Kweichow Moutai Group attaches more importance to the development of commercial, cultural and tourism projects as well as hotels.

Editor: Peter Thomas