(Yicai Global) June 3 -- Eighty million shares in Apple supplier Victory Precision Manufacture will be auctioned next month, according to a notice posted on the official WeChat account of Ali Auction, an online platform owned by e-commerce titan Alibaba Group.

The shares are owned by Gao Yugen, the Suzhou-based company’s controlling shareholder and chairman, the notice said today. They were frozen last year due to debts Gao had racked up, but the Intermediate People’s Court in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, will publicly auction the equity on July 1.

Victory Precision’s shares [SHE:002426] closed 3.8 percent higher today at CNY3.29 (55 US cents) each, after early climbing as much as 8.8 percent. The stock has gained 57 percent since May 6. 

The auction’s target starting price will be CNY2.50 a share, Ali Auction said. 

About 178 million shares held by Gao were judicially frozen in November, the company said in a statement, adding that these accounted for about 32.84 percent of Gao’s stake in the company. The 80 million shares that will be auctioned are from the ones that were frozen. 

Apple released its latest Supplier Responsibility Progress Report on May 28, which included the latest list of suppliers within the US tech firm’s supply chain. Twelve companies from the Chinese mainland are among the newly introduced suppliers, including Victory Precision. 

Victory Precision used to focus mainly on providing structural components for flat panel televisions for TV makers, but following a series of acquisitions it has shifted to new energy, smart manufacturing and mobile terminal products. 

Editor: Tom Litting