Kelon stock formerly belonging to indicted ex-CEO Gu Chujun will be put up for public auction, the Beijing Times reports. A knowledgeable source said that on 8 March, acting chairman Liu Congmeng convened a board meeting at which members agreed to auction off the stock; parent company Hisense had no representatives present. Gu had signed over his shares to Hisense last September, but the agreement did not receive approval. Subsequently, the two companies signed a product sales agreement that gave Hisense effective control over Kelon despite having no controlling stake in the company nor having provided any financing.A Pingan Securities analyst says that the Shunde government may not have approved the stock purchase by the Shandong-based Hisense out of a sense of territoriality; the public auction may be the local government's decision. A source with the Shunde government confirmed that the city did not want Kelon to be sold off to an outsider. A representative of appliance manufacturer Galanz said that his company would be interested in acquiring Kelon if the company is put up for auction, which may take place on 31 March. Other Kelon employees said that Hisense, with its advantage as an agent for Kelon products and its deep pockets, was still the likely winner.Link: http://bjt.net.cn/news.asp?newsid=141700