Identify the Development of Regulatory Control over M&a in China, and the Status Quo of Chinese Soft Drink Market and Juice Market

Q1 Identify the development of regulatory control over M&A in China, and the status quo of Chinese soft drink market and juice market.

1.1 The development of regulatory control over M&A in China

After 13 years of drafting and debates, the Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”)—the first of its kind in the country—was adopted by the standing committee of the Nation People’s Congress on 30 August 2007 and came into effect on 1 August 2008. The purpose of this law was for “preventing and prohibiting monopolistic activities, protecting fair market competition, promoting efficiency of economic operation, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumer and social public interests, and promoting the healthy development of socialist market economy.”

From early to mid-2009, the Chinese government issued a number of guidelines and tentative measures for implementing merger control under the AML, including the Guidelines on the Definition of Relevant Market and the Flow Chart for Anti-Monopoly Examination of Concentrations of Undertakings.

1.2 The status quo of Chinese soft drink market

From the perspective of market segments, the major categories of soft drinks include fruit and vegetable juice, bottled water, carbonated soft drink (“CSD”), functional drink, concentrate, and ready-to-drink tea and coffee. Fruit and vegetable juice was the largest sector of the soft drink industry in China, because Chinese consumers had strong preferences for juice and ready-to-drink tea products due to their health benefits and unlike Western consumers, they rarely drank fizzy drinks with meals.

From the perspective of key players, China’s soft drink industry was concentrated in the hands of several major players. The biggest five companies—Wahaha, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Tingyi and Uni-President—has more than half of the market share. The combined market share of the top 15 companies was around 80%. These key market players offered a wide range of products and pursued product diversification strategies to foster market penetration.

1.3 The status quo of Chinese juice market

1.3.1 From the perspective of market landscape, according to the research firm Euromonitor, the total revenues of juice in 2007 was US$10.6 billion, and the juice market was expected to grow 16% to US$12.3 billion in 2008. Despite strong growth in the juice market, China’s juice consumption per capita was still well below the world average and the levels in other markets of developed countries.

1.3.2 From the perspective of market segments, the juice industry has three segments: 100% juice, nectar (25-99% juice) and juice drink (up to 24% juice). China had over 4,000