A board meeting must be convened as soon as possible to choose a
new chairman of the Kelon firm if
the once leading white goods manufacturer is to be saved, according
to a lawyer speaking with China Daily.
"This is particularly important now after Gu Chujun, the
president of Kelon's largest shareholder Greencool, was detained
three days ago," said Yan Yiming, a Shanghai-based lawyer and
shareholders' rights activist. Yan said he is trying to become an
independent director of Guangdong- based Kelon, with the aim of
looking into the appliance maker's finances.
The Foshan city public security bureau detained five Kelon
senior executives on Saturday, accusing them of "economic crimes."
The five are Kelon board chairman Gu Chujun, Deputy Chief Executive
Yan Yousong, Financial Superintendent Jiang Baojun, Deputy Chief
Financial Officer Yan Guoru and Financial Resource Department Vice
Director Liu Ke. Zhang Xihan, a senior manager with Shenzhen
Greencool Co. Ltd, one of the largest shareholders of Kelon, was
also detained by police.
The board of directors of Kelon Electrical Holdings Co. Ltd.
confirmed the detentions on Monday night and said it would issue an
official response on the matter on Tuesday.
There are rumors that Gu fraudulently used 700 million yuan
(US$43.4 million) to 800 million yuan (US$96.4 million) of Kelon's
cash to fund the acquisition of Meiling Electrical Appliance,
Yaxing Bus and Xiangfan Bearing, all listed companies.
According to Yan Yiming, a board meeting must first be convened
to formally dismiss Gu as Kelon's chairman before he can be removed
from the list of directors. He has a 26.4 percent stake in the
company.
"The earlier this matter is cleared up, the quicker Kelon can
pull out of the on-going crisis," Yan Yiming added.
Shareholders were stunned by Kelon's loss of over 60 million
yuan (US$7.23 million) in the fourth quarter last year after it
reported a total profit of 200 million yuan (US$24 million) in the
first three quarters.
Kelon's Hong Kong-traded shares were down 45 percent this year,
although the benchmark Hang Seng index was up 2.15 percent.
Its Shenzhen-traded shares have dropped by 70 percent in
value.
Insiders say that Kelon's restructuring will be government-led,
and local enterprises in Shunde in Guangdong Province are the
preferred choice of takeover vehicles.
But according to a top manager with Midea, an electrical
appliance producer in Shunde, the restructuring of Kelon will not
be easy.
"Currently, Kelon's major assets are its production lines, which
are not so valuable in acquisition terms," the manager said,
according to China Business News. "Moreover, after this
series of blows, Kelon's brand name and social prestige have
suffered."
"But I don't think Midea will take over at a time when things
are not entirely clear," the manager disclosed. Midea is touted to
be one of the potential buyers of Kelon.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)
launched an investigation into Kelon in April on suspicion of
capital embezzlement and inflated balance sheets.
Three independent directors quit after they received no response
to inquiries about Kelon's financial affairs, according to a Kelon
stock exchange statement on July 8. Its auditors, Deloitte Touche
Tohmatsu, also quit after suspicions were raised about the Kelon's
bookkeeping.
Soon after, the Jiaxing Intermediate People's Court froze
Kelon's 59.28 million shares in Huayi Compressor Co. and 17.1
million yuan (US$2 million) in deposits after Huayi took Kelon to
court over a loan-guarantee dispute.
The team finished its investigation late last month but the
results haven't yet been made public.
(China Daily, Xinhua August 2, 2005)