A Hong Kong court has dismissed a further appeal by the heiress to Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., preserving two prior orders involving $1.8 billion in assets held in an HSBC Holdings Plc account.
The Court of Appeal rejected Kelly Zong’s bid to challenge earlier rulings and refused her request for more time to file an appeal, according to a judgment handed down Tuesday. Zong, the daughter of late billionaire Zong Qinghou, was also ordered, along with the other defendant, to pay the plaintiffs’ legal costs of HK$250,000 ($31,880). The ruling further denied the defendants’ request to suspend parts of an earlier disclosure order, according to the filing.
The 44-year-old applied to the city’s Court of Appeal late last year for permission to challenge a preservation order and a disclosure order previously granted by a high court judge in August. She is asking the court to set aside both orders and dismiss the originating summons amid an inheritance dispute with three of her half-siblings. The three plaintiffs – Jacky, Jessie and Jerry Zong – are seeking more than $2 billion in trust assets that they said their late father promised them before he died in February 2024.
The case has raised eyebrows and lit up on Chinese social media, raising concerns over the country’s succession wave among private enterprises. Kelly, inherited a 29% stake of the the beverage empire founded by her father. She stepped down as Wahaha’s chairwoman and general manager late last year, and now runs a separate beverage producer and packaging business Hongsheng Group, according to Chinese commerce database Qcc.com.