Source: China Daily

03-18-2009 17:24

BEIJING, March. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Wednesday that Coca-Cola's bid to acquire China Huiyuan Juice Group failed to meet the country's anti-monopoly law.

The MOC said on its Web site that the investigation, which "exactly followed relative laws and regulations," found the transaction may disturb market competition.

"If the acquisition of Huiyuan went into effect, Coca-Cola is very likely to take a dominating position in the domestic market and the consumers may have to accept the high price fixed by the company as they don't have more choices," the statement of the MOC said.

Coca-Cola applied anti-trust investigation to the MOC in September. The MOC officially launched the investigation on Nov. 11 to determine whether the acquisition of Huiyuan would harm other rivals and consumers rights or hamper technological development.

The acquisition of Huiyuan was the first major deal to test China's new anti-monopoly law, which took effect on Aug. 1, 2008.

The MOC's statement said it has communicated with Coca Cola several times and suggested it to make changes in the acquisition document so that it would not disturb market competition. Coca Cola has not yet satisfied request.