A Malaysian-owned chocolate factory in China which went out of business last October is to become the first foreign firm to be auctioned off by liquidators in the country, one of the liquidators said on February 28.
The wholly foreign-owned Coline Food Co, founded in Shanghai in 1993, was the biggest chocolate producer in China with registered capital of US$24 million.
The liquidation group, which comprises the Bank of China, the German Kommerzbank and a number of Chinese suppliers, would auction off 300 million yuan (US$36.14 million) worth of assets, including land, factory buildings and two chocolate production lines on March 7, a member of the group said.
Coline is the first foreign firm in China to be auctioned off after collapsing. The country's bankruptcy laws are aimed mainly at domestic firms and foreign companies have often been able to evade debts through regulatory loopholes.
Following its accession to the World Trade Organization late last year, China is expected to soon work out a new bankruptcy law for foreign-invested companies and private firms as well as State-owned enterprises.
(China Daily March 1, 2002)
