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Family feud roils Kuang-chuan, Hi-life

"tt was an unilateral decision [by the nephews], which may not be legally binding [on Wang Chun-chuan]."

Victor Su, a lawyer with LCS & Partners, who is Wang Chun-chuan's attorney

One of the biggest shareholders of family-run Kuang-chuan Co (光泉食品), Wang Chun-chuan (汪圳泉), yesterday lost his job as company chairman after he called the management of its re-investment subsidiary -- Hi-Life International Co (萊爾富) -- into question.

In late June, Wang publicly disclosed that heavy liabilities had forced Hi-Life, the nation's third-largest convenience store, into bankruptcy. He then filed for a bankruptcy for the retailer in courts.

But Hi-Life, which owns 880 chain-stores nationwide, immediately denied that it was debt-ridden, arguing that its problems were the result of a Wang family feud.

After almost two months of family negotiations, Kuang-chuan's two major shareholders -- and nephews of Wang Chun-chuan -- Wang Sze-fa (汪賜發) and Wang Ling-hsiang (汪林祥) joined forces to kick their uncle off the company's board on Monday.

The two nephews also voted to remove their uncle from his jobs as company chairman and president and remove him from Hi-Life's board as well. However, Wang Chun-chuan will continue to serve as an advisor to Kuang-chuan.

Wang Ling-hsiang will take over the company's management.

But a lawyer representing the elder Wang yesterday said the nephews' actions were illegal.

"It was an unilateral decision [by the nephews], which may not be legally binding [on Wang Chun-chuan]," Victor Su (蘇聰儒), a lawyer with LCS & Partners (眾信協和) told the Taipei Times yesterday.

Su said his client refused to respond to the dismissal yesterday, but may take "some" action in a few days.

Wang Chun-chuan had previously insisted that as of end of 2001, Hi-Life had liabilities of some NT$4.1 billion against just NT$1.3 billion in assets.

Su said that as of June Hi-Life had suffered an estimated NT$1.5 billion in losses since its founding in 1989 and its share price is in the red -- a negative NT$68.27 per share.

According to Chinese-language media reports, the Wang family is expected to hold a family meeting on Monday to discuss possible transfer of shares.

Meanwhile, Hi-Life yesterday reiterated that management of the chain-store subsidiary remains healthy and the company hasn't run into any financial difficulties.

"The company is holding to a steady growth rate of opening more than 10 stores per month," said Banson Peng (彭傳璋), a marketing manager at Hi-Life.

He said the number of Hi-Life chain-stores has grown from 850 in June to 880.

Peng also said that Hi-Life has come up with a recapitalization plan to increase its capital by NT$2 billion and the plan is awaiting government approval.
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