The Beijing No. 2 Secondary People's Court has confirmed that Panda's 2.6 million shares in Nanjing Panda has been frozen because it has failed to pay a bank loan.

The Export-Import Bank of China applied for freezing the stock because it says Panda asked for more than CNY100 million from the bank in April 2001, but it failed to pay the loan back when the contract expired in April this year. The stock will be frozen for a period of one year.

Previously, 60 million shares owned by Panda were frozen by a Jiangsu Province Court for the same reason.

Holding 54.2% of Nanjing Panda's stake, Panda is a controlling shareholder of that company, whose funds were apparently embezzled by its former CEO Ma Zhiping.