China's anti-monopoly law and Coke

China enacted their first anti-monopoly law in August 2008. The idea was to promote a competitive, fair market.

Enter Coke. It is proposing to take over China's Huiyuan Juice Group. Coke wants to gain ground with the more affluent Chinese.

The deal is awaiting approval. If it goes through, the purchase, valued at 2.4 billion dollars, would be the largest bid by a foreign firm to takeover a Chinese company.

If Coke's bid is rejected on national-interest grounds, it could make tit for tat difficulties for Chinese firms trying to buy abroad.

Legally, there doesn't appear to be a reason to impede the transaction.

"It doesn't raise national security issues, it's just juice," said Susan Finder, a Hong Kong anti-trust lawyer for the US firm Heller Ehrman. "Is Huiyuan a national treasure of a brand?"

However, how long the approval process will take remains unclear."
Source: http://www.chinatoday.com/law/china.law.case.01.htm