The president of Danone Asia Pacific, Emmanuel Faber, one of the
key persons in the French food and beverage maker's estranged
dispute with Hangzhou Wahaha Group, has resigned his position in
their Chinese ventures.
The move is widely considered by analysts as one in which the
French food and dairy maker hopes will settle the row with its
Chinese partner as soon as possible as the dispute has hurt sales
and reputation of Danone.
In a notice sent to the joint venture board members on Tuesday,
Faber said he would quit his job as the board chairman due to his
appointment as chief operating officer of Paris-based Danone on
January 1.
But he will remain as the deputy board chairman due to his role
in dealing with the on-going negotiations with Wahaha and chairman
Zong Qinghou over the dispute involving the joint venture
partnership as well as control of the Wahaha trademark.
"The new board chairman is expected to be selected after
discussions with the Chinese counterpart," Fabor said in the
notice.
Tang Zhiqing, an analyst from Yi Yan Consulting, said Danone "is
trying to create a friendly environment for the talks and to fix
its brand image."
"A huge loss has been caused for Danone because Wahaha still
controls the distribution of its products. Settling the disputes
quickly will help to maximize Danone's interests," Tang added.
Faber had played hard ball in the dispute with Wahaha following
the sudden resignation of Zong in June last year.
On the same day that Faber resigned, representatives from both
companies have held a meeting to solve the row which has made
newspaper headlines.
Wahaha's spokesman Shan Qining declined to comment on whether
the move would help to form agreement.
In December, both sides had agreed to temporarily suspend
lawsuits and arbitrations and stop issuing aggressive and hostile
statement so that peace talks could restart. Danone has lost
several lawsuits over the dispute to Wahaha in China.
Danone, which owns a 51-percent stake in 39 joint ventures,
accused Wahaha of setting up independent companies and selling
competitive products, which breached the partnership contract.
(Shanghai Daily January 17, 2008)
