They will blame it on the economy, but...
Bad, short sighted yank-style management killed this bear.
Ever since it was sold to investors, Panda has gone downhill. Their operations in the U.S. was particularly unstable, going through managers like a hot knife through butter. In 4 years, they had 5 managers; Each one doing his own round of massive layoffs and lining his pockets as he headed for the door. Similar stories can be found in their other subsidiaries.
The Register is not doing their homework nor reading between the lines. Their chairman is listed as one "Jaime Bergel" from Gala Capital, who is one of their investors. Ever since the investors took over, it was run by finance guys, ex-CEO Santana being one of them (He was the guy who initially orchestrated the sellof of Panda to Investors in 2007, by the way). They are looking to recoup their investment and dump this dog either whole, or most likely piece by piece.
What a shame, they could have been contenders.