HK court freezes South Beauty founder's assets
London-based private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has won a court order to freeze the assets of Chinese restaurant chain South Beauty chairwoman Zhang Lan. CVC had taken a majority stake last year.
The court order, granted by Hong Kong High Court Justice Andrew Chung on March 6, was directed against Zhang Lan, founder of South Beauty, Grand Lan Holdings Group Ltd, and South Beauty Development Ltd.
CVC Capital, which had acquired an 83 percent stake in Zhang's South Beauty restaurant chain for $300 million yuan last year, confirmed the development to China Daily on Friday and said the freeze order pertains to Zhang's personal assets and does not affect the normal operations of the restaurant chain. The company, however, refused to divulge details on the dispute between two sides. South Beauty's headquarters in Beijing refused to comment on the issue.
