AsiaPhos Chinese subsidiary's ex-staff withdraw severance pay claims: board

CATALIST-LISTED Chinese phosphate miner AsiaPhos, which earlier this year saw a wholly owned subsidiary slapped by former employees' claims for severance pay, said in a bourse filing on Friday that some of the claims have been voluntarily withdrawn.

Twenty former staff members of its Sichuan Mianzhu Norwest Phosphate Chemical Co unit had sought about 1.84 million yuan (S$358,600) in severance pay from the Chinese courts.

While the claim was dismissed in September by the Mianzhu Municipal People's Court, a dozen of the former employees brought an appeal to the Deyang Intermediate Court in mid-October.

Now, AsiaPhos has said that 11 of the 12 former employees' claims have been voluntarily withdrawn, according to a written notice received on Nov 7.

Separately, Mianzhu Norwest received another notice of claim in October over 20 former employees' claim of about 870,000 yuan in the Mianzhu Municipal People's Court.

The AsiaPhos board said that further announcements will be made when there are material developments pertaining to the legal proceedings.

Shares in AsiaPhos did not trade on Friday, but last closed at 0.8 Singapore cent.