Antitrust Review of Coke-Huiyuan Deal Due on Friday

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Mar. 17 – China’s Commerce Ministry has until Friday to review Coca-Cola Co.’s takeover of China Huiyuan Juice Group although under the anti-monopoly law regulators are allowed to extend the deadline.

Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian told WSJ that they were in the second stage of their review of Coca-Cola Co.’s plan to acquire beverage maker China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. for $2.4 billion, examining how the deal will affect rivals in the market.

The deal is controversial because it is the first full takeover to come under the new anti-monopoly law and is Coca-Cola’s largest overseas acquisition. Previous U.S. investments  included minority stakes in a Chinese companies.The Coke-Huiyuan case will set the tone on how Beijing will handle foreign investments, specifically mergers and acquisitions.

If approved, the acquisition will give Coca-Cola control of half of China’s pure juice market.

The ruling also comes at a time when FDI coming into the country has dropped for the fifth month in a row because of the global slowdown that has forced companies to either delay or scrap expansion plans.

For February, foreign investment in China dropped by 16 percent to US$5.83 billion. The first two months of this year attracted US$13.37 billion worth of FDI, a decrease of 26 percent compared from the same period a year earlier.