A planned full divestment by a long-term shareholder has dealt a heavy blow to Joinn Laboratories (China) Co.,Ltd., often referred to as the "Primate Maotai" in capital markets.

On the evening of March 16, JOINN announced that shareholders Gu Xiaolei and Gu Meifang, citing personal funding needs, planned to sell their entire combined holding of 30.7425 million A-shares via centralized bidding within the next three months, representing 4.1% of the company's total shares. If executed fully, the shareholders would essentially exit their positions entirely.

The market reacted negatively. On March 17, JOINN's A-shares opened limit-down and closed at 29.32 yuan per share. Its H-shares fell sharply by 11.73% to close at 16.78 Hong Kong dollars per share. Perhaps in response to the sell-off, the company issued a corrective announcement on the evening of March 17, revising the total planned减持比例 down to 3% from 4.1%.

However, this reversal failed to stem the decline in the stock price. As of the market close on March 20, JOINN's A-shares were trading at 28.1 yuan per share, down 1.58%, with a total market capitalization of 21.06 billion yuan. Compared to the market cap of 21.971 billion yuan on March 17, nearly 910 million yuan in market value evaporated over just three days.

The sell-off triggered significant concern because the sellers are veteran figures associated with JOINN for over eight years. Public information shows that both Gu Xiaolei and Gu Meifang previously served as company directors but left their positions in April 2023 and January 2019, respectively.

Tracing the origins, the cooperative relationship between JOINN and Xiangtang Group, also known as the "Xiangtang Gu family," began in 2008, meaning the shareholder partnership has lasted over 18 years. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, Gu Xiaolei and Gu Meifang were the company's fourth and seventh largest shareholders, respectively. The shares to be sold originated from pre-IPO restricted shares and capital reserve conversion. Based on the March 17跌停 price of 29.32 yuan per share, the maximum potential proceeds from this sale could reach approximately 901 million yuan.

Besides the "full exit" nature, the initial减持比例 was set at the regulatory threshold. According to relevant regulations, major shareholders or specific shareholders cannot减持 more than 1% of a company's total shares via centralized bidding within three months. As Gu Xiaolei and Gu Meifang are not major shareholders holding over 5%, and only 4.7218 million of the shares intended for sale were acquired pre-IPO (less than 1%), the planned sale did not violate rules. However, in the latest announcement, the selling method was changed to a combination of centralized bidding and block trades.

This is not the first recent减持 by a JOINN shareholder. One of the company's actual controllers, Zhou Zhiwen, disclosed a减持 plan on December 30, 2025, and sold 14.979 million A-shares between January 22 and January 28, realizing proceeds of about 568 million yuan. Additionally, several company directors, supervisors, and senior executives collectively sold 422,400 shares between September 30, 2025, and November 28, 2025.

JOINN, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Beijing, is a Contract Research Organization (CRO). Its main business encompasses non-clinical research services, clinical services, and the supply of experimental models, with non-clinical research being the core operation. It has subsidiaries in several Chinese cities as well as in California and Boston, USA.

As a CRO leader, what has truly captured the market's attention in recent years is JOINN's business involving laboratory primates. For innovative drug研发, these primates are a critical and scarce resource. Since 2019, major CRO players have been actively building or acquiring primate resources. The price for a single laboratory monkey, previously under 7,000 yuan, surged to 160,000 yuan by 2022, an increase of over twentyfold.

It was in that year that JOINN invested 1.8 billion yuan to acquire two primate breeding companies and establish its own breeding base. Subsequently, primate prices skyrocketed, earning JOINN the "Primate Maotai" label. According to estimates from Founders Securities, the annual supply of laboratory monkeys from 2025 to 2027 is projected to be between 49,000 and 52,400, while demand is estimated between 51,300 and 62,600. A short-term rebound in drug研发 is driving up usage, while supply-side improvements are difficult in the short term, potentially widening the supply-demand gap. Despite the significant gap, the industry's cyclical nature is also a major factor.

In 2022, the COVID-19研发 boom pushed the price of a single cynomolgus monkey above 200,000 yuan, and JOINN's net profit reached a historical peak of 1.074 billion yuan. However, the industry then entered a downturn. By 2023, prices had halved, leading JOINN to record net losses of 267 million yuan and 114 million yuan in 2023 and 2024, respectively, due to fair value changes in its biological assets (primates), causing net profit to decline for two consecutive years. By 2025, as the industry recovered, primate prices rebounded strongly. By late 2025, cynomolgus monkeys were reportedly in short supply again, with prices reaching 120,000 to 130,000 yuan each.

JOINN's financial performance is closely tied to primate prices. According to its performance forecast, JOINN's revenue for 2025 is estimated to be between 1.573 billion and 1.738 billion yuan, a decrease of 13.9% to 22.1% year-on-year. However, its net profit attributable to shareholders is forecast to surge by 214% to 371%, reaching between 233 million and 349 million yuan.

This divergence between declining revenue and surging profit is attributed to accounting effects related to the primates. The company explained that the profit surge was mainly contributed by fair value gains on its biological assets (laboratory monkeys), estimated between 452 million and 499 million yuan. In contrast, its core laboratory services business saw declining revenue and毛利率 due to earlier industry competition, leading to a reduced profit contribution.

With its main business showing weak growth, JOINN is actively exploring a second revenue stream: financial investments. In December 2025, the company announced plans to use up to 2 billion yuan of idle自有资金 in 2026 to purchase wealth management products. Given that financial management收益 had already contributed over 45 million yuan to net profit in the first three quarters of 2025, JOINN appears to be relying on gains from both "primate trading" and "financial investments."

A research report from Cinda Securities in August 2025 noted that JOINN's orders showed signs of marginal recovery, suggesting potential improvement in its core business performance.

However, a more significant challenge may come from regulatory changes. Since 2025, the U.S. FDA has been actively promoting the reduction of animal testing in drug研发, issuing the FDA Modernization Act 3.0, which changes regulatory language from "animal testing" to "non-clinical testing." Emerging technologies like AI models and organ-on-a-chip systems are becoming potential alternatives.

An associate professor noted that JOINN's current model of using "side businesses to support the main business" carries risks. Its core laboratory services business has already incurred losses, with profits primarily reliant on "transfusions" from primate sales and financial investment gains. This structure highlights the difficulties facing its main business. For long-term healthy development, the company must ultimately rely on profitable core laboratory services and should currently focus on enhancing its main business competitiveness, controlling costs, and expanding its order book.

This "full exit"减持 has brought JOINN's significant behind-the-scenes shareholder, Xiangtang Group and the Gu family, into the spotlight. According to JOINN's IPO prospectus, the company was established by five natural persons, including Feng Yuxia, Zhou Zhiwen, Gu Zhenqi, Gu Meifang, and Zuo Conglin. Feng Yuxia and Zhou Zhiwen, a married couple, are the controlling shareholders, holding a combined 59.07% pre-IPO. Gu Zhenqi, son of Xiangtang Group founder Gu Jianping, and his sister Gu Meifang formed the core of the early "Xiangtang faction" among the shareholders.

The减持的主角, Gu Xiaolei, was then the vice chairman of Xiangtang Group. This减持 resembles a major capital shift by a family deeply entwined with JOINN for nearly two decades.

The rise of the Xiangtang Group is a story of a Chinese township entrepreneur's successful跨界转型. In the 1980s, Gu Jianping started a shoe factory in Xiangtang Village, Taicang, which grew into the country's largest exporter of craft slippers by 2000, earning him the title "Slipper King."

A pivotal turn occurred in 2002 when Gu Jianping decided to invest 30 million yuan to co-found Staidson Pharmaceuticals with Feng Yuxia and Zhou Zhiwen. This seemingly risky investment yielded over 1 billion yuan in returns after Staidson's listing in 2011. More importantly, it successfully ushered Gu Jianping into the biopharmaceutical industry, leading to another investment in JOINN, also founded by the Feng-Zhou couple. JOINN listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2017. Its市值 peaked at around 69.058 billion yuan in September 2021 during the industry boom and has recently fluctuated around 22 billion yuan as of March 2026.

Subsequently, using JOINN as a foothold, Xiangtang Group systematically invested in the biopharmaceutical产业链 through direct investments and platforms like Xiangtang Venture Capital and Yanying Investment, backing nearly ten pharmaceutical companies, several of which were early clients of JOINN.

As of March 20, 2026, Xiangtang Group directly invests in 29 enterprises and indirectly invests in over 669 companies, demonstrating its vast capital network.

According to a previous report, by 2019, Xiangtang Group had over 20 subsidiaries, total assets of 7 billion yuan, and nearly 10 billion yuan in annual sales revenue, becoming a diversified local标杆型企业 involved in biopharmaceuticals, chemical fiber new materials, financial venture capital, and real estate.

While expanding into biopharmaceuticals, the group also upgraded its traditional chemical fiber segment. Its Zhenhui Chemical Fiber company, by introducing advanced German production lines, was projected to achieve 3 billion yuan in sales revenue in 2019.

Furthermore, the group has a deep presence in finance. Its担保 company has provided累计担保 of 17 billion yuan for SMEs, and it holds stakes in several banks, with equity investments totaling 350 million yuan, achieving integration of industry and finance.

Public information shows Xiangtang Group has been consistently ranked among top private enterprises in China and Jiangsu Province. In September 2022, it ranked 476th in the "Top 500 Chinese Manufacturing Private Enterprises" with 2021 revenue of 13.523 billion yuan. By October 2025, it ranked 172nd in the "Top 200 Jiangsu Private Enterprises" with 2024 revenue of 9.804 billion yuan.

From traditional manufacturing to biopharmaceuticals, and then to finance and real estate, the Gu family's cross-sector moves have consistently aligned with broader economic trends.

In a related move, in February 2026, Staidson Pharmaceuticals disclosed that shareholder Xiangtang Group had sold a 1% stake, realizing over 117 million yuan. Post-this sale, Xiangtang Group's holding fell from 5.69% to 4.69%, meaning it is no longer a shareholder holding over 5% and future sales would not require pre-disclosure.

The early-stage supporters who helped pave the way are now quietly exiting.