A Hard Landing in the Soft Drink Market -- MOFCOM's Veto of the Coca-Cola & Huiyuan Deal
30 April 2009
By Dr. Fei Deng and Dr. Gregory K. Leonard with Adrian Emch of Sidley Austin LLP
On 18 March 2009, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued its decision to block the proposed takeover by The Coca-Cola Company of China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited. This is the first time that MOFCOM has prohibited a transaction under China's Anti-Monopoly Law, in effect since 1 August 2008. In this article from Global Competition Policy magazine, NERA Senior Consultant Dr. Fei Deng, Senior Vice President Dr. Gregory K. Leonard, and Adrian Emch of Sidley Austin LLP examine several aspects of MOFCOM's decision. The authors discuss the insufficient degree of transparency characterizing Coca-Cola/Huiyuan and other cases; and examine MOFCOM's substantive reasoning in the prohibition decision, to the extent that the agency's findings can be discerned. The article also focuses on the influx of policy objectives other than competition concerns into the practice of antitrust enforcement in China.
