Zhongtian Communication Collapses
China Business News, 12/23/08
Huang Chaohui, chairman of Chinese mobile phone vendor Shenzhen Zhongtian Communication Equipment Co, Ltd (ZTC), as well as other senior-level family staff at the company, collectively disappeared on November 7 just as the company was announcing a halt to trading of its stock on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). 33 Zhongtian employees were preparing on December 14 to bring a law suit against the company for unpaid salaries and other losses.
Liu Muhan, acting chairman for Zhongtian, stated that no one in the Huang family could be successfully contacted, and added that the company's entire staff had already been dismissed, and all its factories closed. A former high-level employee at the company stated that early estimates show that Zhongtian owes over RMB 20 mln to suppliers, over RMB 3 mln in employee salaries, and over RMB 10 mln in mobile phone testing fees. Employee stock options in the company exceed RMB 5 mln. Another former senior-level employee at Zhongtian revealed that for the entire first half of 2008, the company manufactured only a few hundred handsets.
Editor's Note: Zhongtian Communications listed as ZTC Telecommunications Plc on London's AIM in 2007, raising RMB 60 mln. For more background, please see "ZTC Telecommunications Lists in London", MW 4/01/08 issue.
Keywords: Zhongtian Communication ZTC Liu Muhan AIM law London Stock Exchange mobile phone vendor wireless litigation