The dispute between the French Group Danone SAÂ and its Chinese joint venture partner Wahaha Group some months ago resulted in Danone’s filing legal action against British Virgin Islands company Ever Maple Trading Ltd., and later on with the counter-claim of the Chinese Group, which sued Danone for up to 5 billion euros for conducting its business illegally.
Some days ago, French firm confirmed that the dispute between the two partners escalated as assets of 10 overseas-registered companies were frozen at the request of Danone. Last week, the assets of two subsidiaries of China’s largest beverage maker, Mega Source Investments Ltd and Honour Bright Investments Ltd, were frozen and put into receivership under the order of the Supreme Court of Samoa. Also, on November 9, the High Court of the British Virgin Islands placed the other eight firms registered under Wahaha Group into receivership, and froze their assets until further notice. These are BVI-registered companies:
- Golden Dynasty Enterprise Ltd,
- Gold Factory Developments Ltd,
- Platinum Net Ltd.,
- Sunworld Enterprises Ltd,
- Great Bae International Ltd,
- Bountiful Gold Trading Ltd,
- Ever Maple Trading Ltd, and
- Wintell Enterprises Ltd.
Four companies under Danone filed claims against the above-named offshore subsidiaries of Wahaha in the British Virgin Islands and Samoa, as the French food giant confirmed yesterday in a statement.
An international auditing firm KPMG has been appointed the receiver of each of the British Virgin Islands companies, while another receiver was appointed for the two Samoan entities. Under the above-named court orders, the receivers’ primary role will be to identify, locate and secure the assets of these 10 Wahaha companies.
Both Groups declined to comment, but it was said by industry insiders that Danone’s is acting with the purpose to prevent BVI-controlled and Hangzhou-based Wahaha from transferring any assets to foreign countries, while the legal process is not finished yet. Danone sought more than US$100 million for the alleged illegal sales.
Neither Danone Groupe nor Wahaha Group were not immediately available for commenting.