BEIJING (Reuters) – Cash-strapped Chinese metals trader Maike Group said on Wednesday it established strategic partnerships with a unit of Russia’s United Russia party and the Hong Kong-based China Sea Inspection Group.
Commodity trading company China Sea has agreed to invest in Maike, the latter’s chairman He Jinbi told Reuters, declining to comment on the amount.
The partnerships will help the company overcome operational difficulties and resolve major debts, Maike said in a statement on its official Wechat account.
Once China’s biggest copper trader, Maike filed for pre-restructuring earlier this year due to liquidity issues.
Maike chairman He Jinbi declined to comment on the nature of the agreement with the China department of the Social Conservative Policy Center of the United Russia party, the country’s dominant political party.
The organisation has a Beijing address and also plans to open an office in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, according to its website.
Neither China Sea Inspection nor the Russian organisation could be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Andrew Hayley; editing by Jason Neely and Devika Syamnath)