French food group Danone andChinese beverage giant Wahaha Group would end confrontation andprepare for peace negotiation, a Beijing-based spokeswoman forDanone said on Sunday.
The agreement was reached Friday night after a long negotiationpresided by China's Ministry of Commerce, said Ding Ying, aspokeswoman of Ogilvy Public Relations Agency, Danone's PR agent.
"The announcement has been recognized by both parties. Itrepresents their common views and wishes," Ding told Xinhua in antelephone interview.
The announcement said they agreed to "call off all lawsuits andarbitrations provisionally and stop all aggressive speechesagainst the other party, in order to create a friendly atmospherefor peace negotiation."
Ding said both parties expressed positive attitude towards asuccessful negotiation.
However, no announcement was released by Wahaha Group. Aspokesman said they had no new details so far.
Danone, which owns a 51-percent stake in the 39 Danone-Wahahajoint ventures, has accused Wahaha of setting up independentcompanies and selling products identical to those sold by thejoint ventures. Danone had demanded a 51-percent stake in thenon-joint venture companies, which Wahaha rejected.
Since mid-year, the two companies have filed numerouscomplaints and lawsuits against each other under various Chineseand foreign jurisdictions.
Danone filed its first lawsuit against Wahaha on May 9 inStockholm, and on June 4, Danone filed another lawsuit, in LosAngeles, against two Wahaha-related companies and two individuals.
Also in June, Wahaha filed a request with the arbitrationcommission in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou over a disputedtrademark transfer.
It also lodged suits in Shenyang and Jilin against Danoneexecutives Emmanuel Faber, who replaced Zong Qinghou as chief ofDanone and Wahaha's 39 joint ventures, Qin Peng, China directorfor Danone Asia and Francois Caquelin, a financial director,claiming they had breached company law or damaged the interests ofthe Danone-Wahaha joint venture.
ln July, Danone filed a counterclaim against Wahaha, allegingthat Wahaha had failed to transfer trademarks to their jointventure under an agreement reached in 1996 when their cooperationstarted.
Danone and Wahaha negotiated for another round before FrenchPresident Nicolas Sarkozy visited China late last month. The talks,however, were fruitless.
Source: Xinhua
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