Beverages News
- Wahaha to sue three joint-venture directors from Danone
Date: 4-Jul-2007 Sources: (People's Daily)
Chinese beverage giant Wahaha Group on Tuesday confirmed its plan to sue three executives of Danone, Wahaha''s French joint venture partner.
'If Danone do not sue the three directors, Wahaha will do it,' said Liu Xiangwen, lawyer of Wahaha, at a press conference in Hangzhou, capital of east China''s Zhejiang Province.
Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha Group, said he would sue for atotal of one million yuan (131,000 U.S. dollars).
Emmanuel Faber, who recently replaced Zong Qinghou as chief of Danone and Wahaha''s 39 joint ventures, Qin Pang, China director for Danone Asia and Francois Caquelin, a financial director, are the targets of Wahaha''s lawsuits.
Liu claimed that the three men were hired by more than 20 counterpart firms of Wahaha-Danone and carried out a series of investment, marketing and management projects for the firms, whichare competitors of the joint-venture in the beverage industry.
'Their employment in these competitive companies is against China''s corporate law ... and their actions have damaged the interests of the joint ventures and the interest of Wahaha''s shareholders,' Liu said.
Danone''s purchase of three drinks companies - Robust, Shenzhen Yili and Shanghai Jianguanghe - also violated Danone and Wahaha''s non-competition agreements, the lawyer added.
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