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)