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BEIJING: China's commerce ministry has said it intends to carry out an anti-monopoly review on Coca-Cola's proposed takeover of Chinese juice producer Huiyuan, state media reported.
Once the ministry receives Coca-Cola's application for the bid, it will review it under the anti-monopoly law, ministry spokesman Yao Shenhong was quoted as saying by state-run China Central Television over the weekend.
Yao said a review was necessary because of the large sum of money involved, according to the station.
Coca-Cola announced last week plans to buy Hong Kong-listed Huiyuan Juice Group for 2.4 billion dollars, the US soft drink maker's largest acquisition in China.
Analysts have said the takeover, if approved by local authorities, would be the largest by a foreign firm of a Chinese company.
The two companies would control 37 percent of China's juice drink market, according to a Merrill Lynch report.
Analysts have said the deal must be reviewed under the anti-monopoly law, which took effect last month, because the firms' combined global turnover was more than 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion dollars) in 2007 and each made over 400 million yuan in China.
- AFP/yt
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