LeEco assets frozen over late payments

A Shanghai court froze 1.2 billion yuan ($177 million) of assets owned by subsidiaries of tech giant LeEco and founder Jia Yueting because of missed loan payments, worsening the company’s cash crunch. Separate sources told Caixin that the Shanghai High Court last week approved a request by a branch of China Merchant Bank to freeze LeEco assets that were pledged as collateral in 2015 for a 2.4 billion yuan loan. Payments on the loan were almost two months in arrears, sources said. LeEco has run into a cash shortage after years of aggressive investments to expand its business to smartphones, online video, entertainment and electric cars. At last week’s meeting with shareholders of the main listed unit, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp, LeEco CEO Jia said “the cash situation in the recent months is worse than last year.” LeEco has spent 15 billion yuan repaying loans to financial institutions, Jia said.