Grande Holdings
Encyclopedia
Grande Holdings Ltd is a Chinese
manufacturer of consumer and professional audio and HiFi
components based in Kowloon
, Hong Kong
.
In the past Grande Holdings has purchased several Japan
ese HiFi manufacturers including:
Akai
, Nakamichi
and Sansui
. It also owns Kawa
a Chinese domestic hifi company, and had owned Singer Corporation
, a company best known for its sewing machines. The company has since sold off Singer as a brand.
, Christopher Ho, and Stanley Ho
, Macau
's richest and most famous entrepreneurs.
Regulators and officials in the bankruptcy court had found the company's subsidiary, Akai Holdings Ltd, and its Singer division, had made a number of complex company cross-selling deals which resulted in the destabilisation of Singer and Akai. Officials, through their findings, had found Akai's directors and staff had left their Hong Kong offices, and also found that some $38.5 million had mysteriously disappeared from Akai's funds. It was speculated the money was either siphoned away by money grabbing employees, or deposited in overseas bank accounts.
In November 1999, after the bankruptcy proceedings control of many of Akai's remaining assets mysteriously shifted to Grande Holdings, without any notification to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
, creditors, courts, or other regulatory authorities. The deal was done through a simple and hastily prepared four-page management agreement.
Creditors for Akai say they only learned of the change in corporate ownership in September 2000, when Grande Holdings presented 54 boxes of Akai records to liquidators. Grande Holdings then executive director Samuel K. Yuen denied in a brief telephone interview that Grande had taken over Akai.
, China
. The company also owns Ross Group plc, a transformer
manufacturer in the United Kingdom
, majority ownership of Emerson Radio, and Kawa
a Chinese brand of electronics
. The company is currently incorporated in Bermuda
as an exempted company with limited liability.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
manufacturer of consumer and professional audio and HiFi
High fidelity
High fidelity—or hi-fi—reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound or images, to distinguish it from the poorer quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment...
components based in Kowloon
Kowloon
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
In the past Grande Holdings has purchased several Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese HiFi manufacturers including:
Akai
Akai
Akai is a consumer electronics brand, founded by Saburo Akai as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929. It is now headquartered in Singapore as a subsidiary of Grande Holdings, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns the formerly Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui. The Akai brand is now used...
, Nakamichi
Nakamichi
is an historic Japanese high end audio company most famous for its innovative and very high quality audio cassette decks.In 1972, Nakamichi launched its first Nakamichi-brand products, home audio gear that included the world's first three-head cassette deck...
and Sansui
Sansui
) is a Japanese manufacturer of audio and video equipment. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, it is part of Grande Holdings, a Chinese Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns Japanese brands Akai and Nakamichi....
. It also owns Kawa
Kawa
Kawa is a language framework written in Java that implements the programming language Scheme, and can be used to implement other languages. It is a part of the GNU Project....
a Chinese domestic hifi company, and had owned Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...
, a company best known for its sewing machines. The company has since sold off Singer as a brand.
History
The company was founded by James Henry Ting Wei, a Chinese businessman originally from ShanghaiShanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, Christopher Ho, and Stanley Ho
Stanley Ho
Stanley Ho, GBM, GLM, GBS, GML, OBE , also known as Ho Hung Sun, Stanley Ho Hung Sun, is an entrepreneur in Hong Kong and Macau. Ho is sometimes nicknamed "The King of Gambling", reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held of the Macau gambling industry for 40 years...
, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
's richest and most famous entrepreneurs.
Controversy
In 1999 during the Asian Financial Crisis the company courted controversy when one of its main subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Akai Holdings Ltd, fell apart after recording a $1.65 billion loss in 1999, one of the biggest losses in Asian financial history. It resulted in Grande Holdings becoming almost bankrupt, and having to sell many of its subsidiaries and business interests to recoup its loss.Regulators and officials in the bankruptcy court had found the company's subsidiary, Akai Holdings Ltd, and its Singer division, had made a number of complex company cross-selling deals which resulted in the destabilisation of Singer and Akai. Officials, through their findings, had found Akai's directors and staff had left their Hong Kong offices, and also found that some $38.5 million had mysteriously disappeared from Akai's funds. It was speculated the money was either siphoned away by money grabbing employees, or deposited in overseas bank accounts.
In November 1999, after the bankruptcy proceedings control of many of Akai's remaining assets mysteriously shifted to Grande Holdings, without any notification to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Hong Kong Stock Exchange
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Hong Kong. It is Asia's third largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and fifth largest in the world...
, creditors, courts, or other regulatory authorities. The deal was done through a simple and hastily prepared four-page management agreement.
Creditors for Akai say they only learned of the change in corporate ownership in September 2000, when Grande Holdings presented 54 boxes of Akai records to liquidators. Grande Holdings then executive director Samuel K. Yuen denied in a brief telephone interview that Grande had taken over Akai.
Grande Holdings today
Following a series of losses, Grande had reached insolvency and appointed provisional liquidators on June 1, 2011. At the time of filing, the company controlled the Akai, Nakamichi and Sansui brands as well as its key assets, including a TV factory in ZhongshanZhongshan
Zhongshan , also spelled Chungshan and historically known as Xiangshan or Siangshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province in southern China. Zhongshan, one of the few cities in China with an eponymous name, is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen who was...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The company also owns Ross Group plc, a transformer
Transformer
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
manufacturer in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, majority ownership of Emerson Radio, and Kawa
Kawa
Kawa is a language framework written in Java that implements the programming language Scheme, and can be used to implement other languages. It is a part of the GNU Project....
a Chinese brand of electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
. The company is currently incorporated in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
as an exempted company with limited liability.