The verdicts in a trial of three former executives of Yunnan Copper Group were announced on Monday, with former deputy manager Yu Weiping (余卫平) receiving the death sentence for his role in a corruption scandal that has tarnished the image of one of Yunnan's largest companies.

Yu was ordered to die by the Kunming Intermediate People's Court for reportedly accepting bribes totaling more than US$4 million and embezzling more than 41 million yuan while at Yunnan Copper. Yu also reportedly misappropriated 27 million yuan in company funds, which he lent to others.

Yu's former boss Zou Shaolu (邹韶禄), who had served as Yunnan Copper's general manager, was found guilty of taking more than 19 million in bribes between 2003 and 2007. Zou was reportedly spared execution because he had turned himself in to authorities.

Wang Jianwei (汪建伟), a former general manager of a Yunnan Copper-affiliated property company was given 20 years in jail for allegedly accepting more than four million yuan in bribes.

In 2007, the Yunnan Provincial Enterprise Association named Yunnan Copper Group the province's second-strongest company after tobacco giant Hongta Group. The company employs approximately 20,000 and recorded sales of 39.2 billion yuan in 2007.

In the wake of major IPOs by state-owned PetroChina and Alibaba, big Chinese companies are highly visible in business news stories around the world. As Yunnan's economy continues its rapid growth, one may wonder which local companies have the best chance at joining their coastal counterparts in global headlines.

According to a recent ranking of Yunnan's top 100 companies by the Yunnan Provincial Enterprise Association, tobacco giant Hongta Group is ranked the province's 'strongest' company, with annual operating revenue of more than 40 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion).

As with much of China's lesser-developed regions, Yunnan's biggest companies are almost exclusively guoqi (国企), or state-owned enterprises. The emergence of home-grown private enterprises joining the ranks of the province's top companies still seems many years off.

The following list of Yunnan's top companies includes each company's annual operating revenue and primary business - not surprisingly, companies involved in tobacco, mining and energy dominate the list:

1. Hongta Group (红塔集团): 40,798,100,000 yuan; tobacco

2. Yunnan Copper Group (云铜集团): 32,690,420,000 yuan; copper/nonferrous metals

3. Hongyun Group (红云集团): 25,644,350,000 yuan; tobacco

4. Yunnan Power Grid Co (云南电网公司): 23,299,000,000 yuan; power generation/transmission

5. Kunming Iron & Steel Company (昆明钢铁控股有限公司): 16,539,360,000 yuan; ferrous metals

6. Sinopec Yunnan (中石化云南石油分公司): 16,000,000,000 yuan; petroleum/petrochemicals

7. Yuntianhua Group (云天化集团): 15,217,980,000 yuan; chemicals, fertilizer

8. Honghe Cigarette Factory (红河卷烟总厂): 14,500,000,000 yuan; tobacco

9. Yunnan Metallurgical Group (云南冶金集团): 14,240,180,000 yuan; non-ferrous metals

10. Kunming Rail Bureau (昆明铁路局): 10,015,840,000 yuan; rail logistics