Jahwa Ending Its Disputes with Shareholders

The high-profile fight between Shanghai Jahwa United's management and its major shareholder, Ping An Insurance, ended happily on Tuesday.

Ge Wenyao, chairman and chief executive of the mainland's leading personal and household products manufacturer, told a shareholders' meeting that he would keep his posts at the listed firm and hoped to focus on doing business while avoiding unnecessary internal friction.

There was speculation that Ge, who has long been credited with developing Jahwa into a consumer product giant, would be expelled at the meeting after he was accused by Ping An of pocketing illicit gains.Ge criticised Ping An for being unwilling to consider the growth of the company over the long term.

The conflict caused concern among mainland equity investors who had already been fretting about a worsening of listed firms' corporate governance.

Last weekend, Ge was fired as chairman of Shanghai Jahwa Group.

Ping An had bought state-owned Jahwa Group in a deal valued at 5.1 billion yuan in November 2011 and  became the controlling shareholder of Jahwa's Shanghai-listed unit later on.The transaction was believed to benefit Jahwa United's future growth.However, the management under Ge and Ping An had differences over the company's operations and growth plans, according to a source close to Jahwa.

Ge has worked for Jahwa for 28 years and has been a strong advocate over the years of rolling back the involvement of the state in the cosmetics maker.Ge denied the wrongdoings, and representatives of Ping An did not raise the issue of illicit gains yesterday.