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14ymedio: a court win for Habanos' Chinese partner complicates cigar sales in Europe
A British Virgin Islands court halted the liquidation of the roughly thirty companies of Chen Zhi, jailed in China and sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, among them the firm that controls almost a third of Habanos S.A., according to 14ymedio.
A British Virgin Islands court halted the liquidation of companies belonging to Chinese-Cambodian magnate Chen Zhi and opened the way for him to regain control of a network of some thirty firms in his name, according to 14ymedio, which cites the specialist site L'Amateur de Cigare.
Those firms include Simply Advanced Limited, through which Chen controlled almost a third of the shares in Habanos S.A. In January a judge had placed the companies in the hands of a liquidator to preserve the assets while the crimes he is accused of were resolved; another court has now ruled there are not sufficient grounds for that step, according to 14ymedio.
Chen remains jailed in China and is sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union for financial crimes and human rights violations, according to 14ymedio. Those sanctions have hit distribution of Cuban cigars in Europe, where Habanos earns more than half its revenue: the distributor in Austria, Germany and Poland suspended orders over "temporary banking restrictions"; Elite Trading Scandinavia entered voluntary liquidation after losing its license in Gothenburg, which affected distribution in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; and in Spain Tabacalera's accounts are frozen and every transaction, including payroll, needs Treasury authorization.
The provisional liquidators remain in place: the ruling is published on Nov. 6 and at a hearing set for Dec. 8 and 9 they are to leave their posts, according to lawyers from the Campbells firm cited by 14ymedio, who represent 25 of the 30 companies. Management would pass to Cosimo Borrelli, presented by the defense as independent and who is an administrator appointed by Chen himself. The judge said at an Oct. 21 hearing that the transition should be gradual, because returning the companies to Chen threatens jobs and closures in several countries.
Sources: 14ymedio
Data updated: 2026-11-06T04:15:00.000Z