Beijing Thwarts Coke's Takeover Bid

中国政府以“将对竞争产生不利影响”为由，否决了可口可乐公司(Coca-Cola Co.)斥资24亿美元收购中国最大果汁生产商的交易，此举有可能给那些在中国寻求并购机会的外国人浇了盆冷水，并有导致其他国家如法炮制阻挠中国海外投资项目的风险。Associated Press中国商务部周三的这项决定，使一项本应成为有史以来最大规模的外商并购中国企业案胎死腹中，对可口可乐公司来说也是一个重大打击。该公司原本希望它对北京奥运会的高调赞助能使自己在中国这一重要市场获得丰厚回报。律师和投资银行家们说，政府的这项裁决是中国《反垄断法》的牛刀初试，它损害了中国政府反对保护主义障碍的公开立场。时值全球经济衰退之际，这些保护主义壁垒正引起各方的高度警觉。美国律师事务所WilmerHale北京办事处的律师莱斯特·罗斯(Lester Ross)说，这一裁决传递了一个非常负面的信息。与这桩收购交易无关的罗斯说，他认为中国政府是在保护主义驱动下做出这一裁决的，而公众对一家外国公司收购一个中国知名品牌的愤恨又对此起了推波助澜作用。在美国市场销售增速放缓之际，中国政府的这一裁决使可口可乐公司在华扩张战略遭遇了挫折，中国现在是仅次于美国墨西哥和巴西的该公司全球第四大市场。可口可乐首席执行长穆泰康(Muhtar Kent)目前正以更大力度推动该公司将触角从传统的汽水业务延伸到果汁领域，收购中国汇源果汁正是这一努力的一部分，果汁饮料市场的增长速度比碳酸饮料市场快得多。穆泰康在一份事先准备好的声明中说，“我们感到失望”，但他同时表示，可口可乐公司尊重中国商务部的决定。更多汇源判决：反垄断还是保护？中国拒绝可口可乐的理由很“商业”可口可乐收购计划搁浅 汇源股价大跌商务部驳回可口可乐收购汇源计划财经点评：商务部赢了战斗输掉战役可口可乐收购汇源交易商务部裁决声明讨论：汇源交易被否决是反垄断还是保护？该公司以往在实施全球扩张时也遇到过反垄断问题。可口可乐公司曾被迫缩减了对Cadbury Schweppes PLC旗下饮料品牌的并购规模，当时欧盟的监管机构不同意它在欧盟成员国实施这些并购。而法国也曾以会形成垄断为由否决了可口可乐公司对Pernod Ricard SA旗下Orangina业务的收购。但可口可乐公司一直在努力树立中国之友的形像。穆泰康本月前往上海宣传该公司未来3年内向公司的中国业务投资20亿美元的计划，一些分析师认为，此举旨在为可口可乐收购中国汇源果汁集团有限公司铺平道路。可口可乐公司周三表示，这些投资计划不会改变。该计划涉及的领域有分销营销和新厂建设等。可口可乐的竞争对手百事公司(PepsiCo Inc.)最近承诺，将向其在中国的快餐和饮料业务投资10亿美元，并且也有意扩大其果汁业务。百事公司在美国的非碳酸饮料市场居于主导地位，它正努力在新兴市场上挑战可口可乐在主流饮料方面的优势地位。可口可乐是去年9月在北京奥运会结束不久宣布收购汇源果汁的。北京奥运会被视为庆祝中国经济崛起的盛会，而可口可乐则高调赞助了这届奥运会。但从一开始就有人怀疑这桩交易能否通过中国政府的反垄断审查。据研究公司Euromonitor称，可口可乐是中国市场上最大的碳酸饮料供应商，市场占有率达52.5%。该公司的全球竞争对手百事公司在中国碳酸饮料市场排名第二，占有32.8%的市场份额。汇源果汁是中国最大的纯果汁生产商，在这一高端市场占有33%的份额。可口可乐也出售果汁饮料，Euromonitor的数据显示，它与汇源果汁在中国果汁和蔬菜汁市场合计占有20.3%的份额。中国商务部表示，如果可口可乐被允许收购汇源果汁，两公司合并后的市场控制力会挤压国内中小型果汁企业的生存空间，导致消费者被迫接受更高的价格。商务部国际贸易经济合作研究院的研究员梅新育说，中国政府周三的裁决是一个“巨大进步”，它“与贸易保护主义无关”。梅新育说，投资者应该为“法律被正确行使”感到鼓舞。未涉足可口可乐收购汇源果汁一案的并购业务律师们在研究了商务部的裁决声明后说，与美国的反垄断官员相比，中国反垄断官员做出裁决时依赖的反垄断损害定义似乎较为宽泛。这些律师说，商务部的声明意味着，除了要考虑合并后公司在某一特定市场的占有率，还要考虑这家公司的总体规模。中国商务部还表示，可口可乐也可能利用其在碳酸饮料市场的主导地位限制果汁饮料市场的竞争。中国社会科学院的研究员易宪容则对商务部否决可口可乐收购汇源果汁提出了批评。他说，鉴于饮料行业的激烈竞争，商务部的裁决是站不住脚的，有可能是中国民族主义者对这桩交易的反对导致了商务部的这一裁决。律师和银行家们说，反垄断壁垒抬高可能成为外资企业在华并购和投资的新障碍，外资企业此前一直难以从国有企业手中收购资产。中国财政部周三出台新规定，加大了外国投资者收购或出售中资银行和其他金融服务机构的难度。此前几个月一些外资银行部分或全部出售了它们在中资银行的持股。汤森路透(Thomson Reuters)的数据显示，过去5年中，外商在华并购交易的金额将近720亿美元，其中47%来自金融领域。认为中国对外国投资者存在敌意的想法反过来会损害中国企业趁海外资产价格低廉之机对外投资的前景，尤其是在北京认为对其经济持续增长至关重要的石油金属和其它自然资源领域。自去年秋季全球经济加速下滑以来，中国也加快了海外投资的步伐。中国政府正在进一步放宽政策，周一公布了降低中国企业海外投资监管限制的规定。上周，中国商务部部长陈德铭呼吁国际社会共同反对贸易保护主义。矿业巨头力拓(Rio Tinto)的股价周三收盘下跌近9%，有关澳大利亚政府可能否决这家公司向中国铝业公司(Aluminum Corp. of China)融资195亿美元这一交易的传言愈传愈盛。根据汤森路透的数据，过去两年中，中国企业达成的海外收购交易的价值已经超过了外资企业在中国的收购总额。去年中国企业共在海外完成了766亿美元的并购交易，而外国公司仅在中国完成了186亿美元的收购交易。商务部说，它曾试图与可口可乐公司就附加限制性条件进行协商，以减轻收购交易可能给竞争带来的不利影响，但可口可乐的修改方案仍不能解决这个问题。可口可乐除了书面声明之外没有做出进一步评论。知情人士说，反垄断部门最为关注的是：就算是出售其它资产，汇源的品牌名称也应留在中国人手中。这些人士称，这点出乎可口可乐管理层的意料，他们本以为中国会要求可口可乐投入资金以进一步做大汇源这个品牌。知情人士说，如果得不到汇源这个深入人心的优质品牌，可口可乐出价24亿美元收购也就不值了。可口可乐收购汇源的做法招致了中国民众的批评。就在这项交易宣布后不久，新浪网(Sina.com)一个约有50万人参加的调查显示，近80%的投票者反对将汇源出售给可口可乐。上周一位网民在某知名门户网站留言说，我们应该保护我们的民族工业。否则中国人的衣食住行都会受到外国人的控制。这太可怕了。中国的企业高管也在批评此项交易。中国另一家饮料公司娃哈哈集团(Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co.)的市场部部长杨秀玲说，如果失去了民族品牌，从长远看，这不利于中国的产业。另一位知情人士说，商务部内部也对如何处理此事产生了分歧，一些人认为阻止此项交易并不合适。律师事务所Dechert LLP驻北京合伙人Henry Wang说，将这个品牌留在中国人手中的愿望非常强烈。他认为此项决定显示，中国政府认为中国本土公司和品牌参与国际竞争的时机已经成熟。Dechert没有参与此项交易。中国的经济规划者一直在努力提高中国各行业的科技含量，改善企业的品牌塑造和营销水平，同时试图降低中国经济对利润微薄的劳动密集型产业的依赖。要界定商业品牌从属于哪个国家正变得越来越困难。汇源在香港联交所上市交易，法国达能集团(Groupe Danone SA)持有其23%的股份。美国私人资本运营公司华平创业投资有限公司(Warburg Pincus LLC)持有其6.8%的股份，该公司创始人目前担任公司主席的朱新礼持有36%的股权。Atlanta Capital Management的执行合伙人威廉姆·哈克尼(William Hackney III)认为，此项交易的破裂短期而言对可口可乐的股东来说是个好消息，因为可口可乐将拥有更多的现金。但他说，从长期来看，这是一个坏消息，因为可口可乐需要花费更多资金构建其在中国的基础设施。Atlanta Capital管理着价值约70亿美元的资产，其中包括约92万股可口可乐股票，价值约合3,800万美元。哈克尼说，这对全球市场而言也是一个坏消息。他说，这是中国采取的令人烦扰的保护主义举措。你无法声称果汁与军工或能源一样同属于战略行业。德意志银行(Deutsche Bank AG)的分析师马克·格林伯格(Marc Greenberg)预计，由于可口可乐手头现在有了更多现金，该公司将恢复回购股票，回购额最高可达15亿美元。他对可口可乐股票的评级为持有。他说，我不认为会有人真正对此事感到难过。随着全球市场状况更加低迷，手头多点现金总不是坏事。他还说，这项交易的破裂不应被看作是穆泰康的失误，因为中国政府的决定超出了他的控制能力。格林伯格说，他预计这位积极进取的首席执行长将会在东欧拉美或亚洲其它地区搜寻规模较小的并购交易，原因之一在于一些一年前还不希望出售自身的公司可能发现自己难以实现增长，或是急需获得现金。Gordon Fairclough / Carlos Tejada / Valerie Bauerlein相关阅读可口可乐收购汇源交易商务部裁决声明 2009-03-19中国商务部驳回可口可乐收购汇源计划 2009-03-18中国应让可口可乐如愿在华投资 2009-03-17可口可乐－汇源交易的裁定时间暂定为本周五 2009-03-16可口可乐计划加大在中国的投资 2009-03-07 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年03月19日09:41', '1886.HK'));中国汇源果汁集团有限公司（简称：汇源果汁）英文名称：China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd.总部地点：中国大陆上市地点：香港交易所股票代码：1886document.write (truthmeter('2009年03月19日09:41', 'PEP'));百事公司英文名称：PepsiCo Inc.总部地点：美国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：PEPdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年03月19日09:41', 'KO'));可口可乐公司英文名称：Coca-Cola Co.总部地点：美国上市地点：纽约证交所股票代码：KO


China's government rejected a $2.4 billion bid by Coca-Cola Co. for one of the country's largest juice makers on antitrust grounds -- a move that could chill foreigners looking to make deals in China and that risks prompting a backlash against Chinese investing abroad.The decision by the Commerce Ministry Wednesday to block what would have been the largest-ever takeover of a Chinese company by a foreign buyer is also a major blow to Coke, which had hoped to parlay its high-profile sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics into greater commercial success in a critical market.Lawyers and investment bankers said Beijing's ruling -- the first major test of a new antimonopoly law -- undermines the government's public opposition to protectionist barriers, which are getting heightened scrutiny amid the global recession.The ruling sends 'a very negative message,' said Lester Ross, an attorney in U.S. law firm WilmerHale's Beijing office who wasn't involved in the deal. 'I think it was driven by protectionism, fueled by popular resentment against a foreign company acquiring a popular Chinese brand.'China's rebuff sets back the Atlanta-based soft-drink maker's strategy to expand in China, its fourth-largest market, after the U.S., Mexico and Brazil, when sales in the U.S. are slowing. The deal was part of a broader effort by Coke Chief Executive Muhtar Kent to push more aggressively beyond soda into the fruit-juice business, a sector that is growing far faster than carbonated soft drinks. 'We are disappointed,' Mr. Kent said in a prepared statement, but added that the company respects the Commerce Ministry's decision.Coca-Cola has encountered antitrust problems in the past as it expands around the world. The company was forced to scale back its acquisition of Cadbury Schweppes PLC's beverage brands when regulators blocked that deal in European Union countries. And France blocked Coke from acquiring Orangina from Pernod Ricard SA on antitrust grounds.But Coke has worked hard to cultivate an image as a friend of China. Mr. Kent traveled to Shanghai this month to tout plans to invest $2 billion in Coke's China operations over the next three years, a move that some analysts saw as trying to smooth the way for the deal to acquire China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. Coke said Wednesday there would be no change in those investment plans, which involve distribution, marketing and a new plant, among other things.Rival PepsiCo Inc. recently pledged to invest $1 billion in building its snack and drink businesses in China and also is keen to build a bigger juice business. With a dominating share of noncarbonated beverage sales in the U.S., Pepsi is out to challenge Coke for sales of fast-selling drinks in emerging markets.Coke's September offer to acquire Huiyuan came in the wake of August's Beijing Olympics, a celebration of China's economic rise for which Coca-Cola was a high-profile sponsor. But there were doubts from the beginning about whether the deal would win antitrust approval.Coca-Cola is the largest seller of carbonated soft drinks in China, with a 52.5% market share, according to research firm Euromonitor. Coke's global rival, PepsiCo, ranks second, with a 32.8% share. Huiyuan is China's largest maker of 100%-juice drinks, with a 33% market share in that high-end segment. Coke also sells juice drinks, and the two companies' combined share of the fruit and vegetable juice market last year was 20.3%, according to Euromonitor.The Commerce Ministry said that if Coca-Cola were allowed to acquire Huiyuan, the combined company's market power could 'narrow the room for survival' of smaller players in China's domestic beverage industry and lead to 'higher prices' for consumers.Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is affiliated with the ministry, said Wednesday's ruling represented 'big progress' and had 'nothing to do with trade protectionism.' Mr. Mei said investors should be encouraged by the fact that 'laws are properly enforced.'Merger-and-acquisition lawyers who weren't involved in the deal said on reviewing the ministry statement that Chinese antitrust officials appeared to be relying on broader definitions of anticompetitive harm than used by their counterparts in the U.S. The ministry's statement implied that a company's overall size, in addition to its share of any given market, should be taken into account, these lawyers said. The ministry also said that Coke might use its dominant position in the carbonated-beverage market to restrict competition in the juice business as well.Yi Xianrong, a researcher in the finance and banking section of the government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, criticized the ministry's rejection, saying it was 'groundless' given the intense competition in the industry, and was likely the result of a nationalist backlash against the deal.Lawyers and bankers said higher antitrust barriers could be a new hindrance to companies trying to conduct deals and invest in China, where it long has been difficult to acquire assets from state-owned companies.The Finance Ministry announced new rules Wednesday that make it harder for foreign investors in banks and other financial-services businesses to buy or sell stakes in those institutions. This follows moves by some foreign banks in recent months to sell some or all of their holdings in Chinese banks. Over the past five years, 47% of the nearly $72 billion in mergers and acquisitions involving foreigners in China were in the financial sector, according to Thomson Reuters.Perceptions that China is hostile to foreign investors could in turn hurt the prospects of Chinese companies looking to take advantage of cheap prices to invest abroad, particularly in oil, metals and other natural resources that Beijing sees as critical to sustaining Chinese economic growth.Such investments have picked up pace since the global downturn began accelerating last autumn. And the government is looking to loosen the reins further, issuing new rules Monday that lower regulatory hurdles for Chinese companies looking to invest abroad. Last week, China's minister of commerce, Chen Deming, called on the global community to 'jointly oppose trade protectionism.'Shares of mining giant Rio Tinto closed nearly 9% lower Wednesday as speculation increased that the Australian government could reject the mining company's $19.5 billion funding deal with Aluminum Corp. of China.In the past two years, the value of deals struck by Chinese companies shopping overseas has exceeded the value of deals done by foreign companies in China, according to Thomson Reuters. Chinese firms completed $76.6 billion in deals abroad last year, compared with $18.6 billion in completed deals by foreign companies in China.The Commerce Ministry said it had attempted to negotiate with Coca-Cola for a more limited deal that would ease the anticompetitive effects of the acquisition, but that Coca-Cola's response didn't go far enough to address its concerns. Coke didn't comment beyond its prepared statement.People familiar with the matter said that the antitrust authorities' main concern was that the Huiyuan name itself should remain in Chinese hands, even if other assets were sold.That came as a surprise to Coke executives, who had instead expected demands for Coke to invest in and expand the Huiyuan brand, the people said. Without Huiyuan's powerful and upscale brand, the people familiar with the matter said, there was no way for Coke to justify the $2.4 billion purchase price.Coke's effort to acquire Huiyuan met with public criticism. Shortly after the deal was announced, a poll of about a half-million people by Web portal Sina.com showed that nearly 80% of participants opposed the sale of Huiyuan to Coke. 'We should protect our national industry,' a posting on a popular portal site said last week. 'Otherwise all the clothing, food, accommodation and transportation of Chinese citizens will be controlled by foreigners. It's too terrible.'Chinese executives were also critical of the deal. Yang Xiulin, the marketing director of Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co., another beverage company, said 'if national brands are gone, for the long term, it's not good for the Chinese industry.'Another person familiar with the matter said that officials within the Commerce Ministry were divided on how to proceed, with some arguing that it was a bad idea to block the deal.'There's a strong desire to keep the brand in local hands,' said Henry Wang, a Beijing-based partner of law firm Dechert LLP who wasn't involved in the deal. He said he viewed the decision as a sign that the Chinese government believes it is time for China's own companies and brands to compete in global markets.Chinese economic planners have been trying to boost the technological sophistication of Chinese industries and improve companies' branding and marketing skills while seeking to lessen the economy's dependence on less-profitable, labor-intensive industries.Defining the nationality of brands is increasingly difficult. Huiyuan, which has shares traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is 23%-owned by France's Groupe Danone SA. U.S. private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC owns 6.8%, while the company's founding chairman, Zhu Xinli owns 36%.Investor William Hackney III, managing partner of Atlanta Capital Management Co., saw the collapse of the deal as good news for Coke shareholders in the short term as Coke will have more cash on hand. But in the long run, it's bad news as Coke will have to pay more to build out its own infrastructure in China, he said. His firm has about $7 billion in assets under management, including about 924,000 Coke shares, valued at $38 million.It's also bad news for global markets, Mr. Hackney said. 'This is a disturbing, protectionist move by China,' he said. 'You can't really argue that the juice business is a strategic industry like defense or energy.'Analyst Marc Greenberg of Deutsche Bank AG, who rates Coke shares a 'hold,' said he expects Coke to resume buying back its own shares, as much as $1.5 billion, now that it has more cash on hand. 'I don't think anybody is really heartbroken by this,' he said. 'As the markets of the world have gotten a little more tepid, the fact that they'll have more money in their pocket is not a bad thing.'He also said the deal's collapse shouldn't be seen as a mark against Mr. Kent, as the Chinese government's decision was 'out of his hands.' Mr. Greenberg said he expects the aggressive CEO to be on the hunt for small deals in Eastern Europe, Latin America or other parts of Asia as companies that might not have been open to a sale a year ago find themselves stalled for growth and strapped for cash.Gordon Fairclough / Carlos Tejada / Valerie Bauerlein