The UK's Millennium & Copthorne became the latest company to underscore the challenges for western companies operating in China yesterday after it revealed that a former employee at one of its joint ventures there had allegedly sold off $48m of the venture's assets without the company's permission.

The company said the employee, Cheung Ping Kwong, sold the assets – which included a hotel and development land – in spite of a Chinese newspaper advertisement issued by the joint venture warning that he had been removed from his position at the group and was not authorised to sell the holdings.

M&C said the properties were valued at $48m and the value of its own stakes in the assets was approximately ￡12.7m ($19.5m). Analysts said the potential losses were not expected to have a material impact on M&C, which made ￡654m in revenue last year.