Workers of China's Wahaha Group said they had won local court orders freezing some of French food group Danone's joint venture assets in the country in the latest round of a long-running battle between the estranged partners.
A court at Weifang, in the eastern province of Shandong, froze Danone's assets in two ventures with Wahaha, after the labour union of the Chinese beverage maker sued Danone for investing in rival firms and hurting Wahaha's interests, the union said in a statement on Sunday.
Danone, which has 39 ventures with Wahaha, has accused its Chinese partner of breaking their agreement by setting up rival businesses outside their decade-old ventures.
The union, a shareholder in the ventures, did not specify the value of frozen assets, but said the 39 ventures had assets valued at 7.9 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) last year.
A spokesman for Danone could not be reached for comment. The French group has said its ventures with Wahaha accounted for 5 to 6 percent of its global operating profits.
The companies have been trading accusations and lawsuits since the beginning of this year, in one of the most high-profile disputes between a foreign company and a Chinese partner. The union's statement came two days after Danone offered to drop all legal action against Wahaha if the Chinese partner agreed to enter talks to settle their dispute.
Early this month, Danone lost an important part of the battle when a local arbitration body in China ruled in favour of Wahaha over ownership of the Wahaha brand. Danone plans to appeal against the decision, and is taking legal action and seeking arbitration in overseas locations such as Stockholm.
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