Corporate & Securities Law

China Denies Coke?s Bid to Acquire the China Huiyuan Juice Company

By David Fischer

Earlier today, the Chinese government rejected on antitrust ground Coca-Cola’s acquisition of the China Huiyuan Juice Company.  The New York Times reports:

The ministry of commerce said Coke?s bid to acquire the China Huiyuan Juice Company was rejected on antitrust reasons. The government said the deal would allow Coke to dominate a huge segment of the beverage market. In a statement released Wednesday, the commerce ministry said it was worried that Coke would ?set up some exclusive terms to restrict competition in the juice market,? drive up the consumer prices and squeeze out smaller beverage makers.

The statement is available, in Chinese, here (if/when we can find the statement in English, we will post a link to it too).

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on March 18, 2009 (boomark / email).