Chinese cellphone maker Nanjing Panda said on Monday two of its assets were used to pay debts of 120.23 million yuan ($14.52 million) to a local investment company. Nanjing Panda Electronics Co Ltd's 51 percent stake in Panda Mobile Co and 95 percent stake in Panda Communications Development Co were frozen by a local court and used to pay the debts, it said in a statement published in official financial newspapers.
Trading in the Hong Kong-listed shares of Nanjing Panda was suspended on Friday, the Hong Kong stock exchange said, with no details immediately available at the time.
Nanjing Panda owed the 120 million yuan to the little-known Nanjing Weite Investment Management Co Ltd It signed an agreement on February 8 to pay back the money and interest within eight days.
The company added it failed to meet that deadline, however, prompting the Nanjing Xuanwu District Court to freeze the two assets to use them as payments.
In a separate development, the provincial government of the eastern province of Jiangsu had agreed to take over responsibility for 500 million yuan owed by Nanjing Panda's subsidiary, Panda Mobile Co, Nanjing Panda said without elaborating.
Nanjing Panda said in December that one of its customers, EMOL (Shanghai) Tele-communication Industry Co Ltd, owed it 162 million yuan for goods as at the end of June 30.
EMOL had ceased operations and its employees had not received salaries, China's state media reported.