Since China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) took effect in 2008, its Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), one of the country’s three competition agencies, has taken the lead on merger control, reviewing more than 250 proposed transactions. MOFCOM has cleared most of them, seven with conditions, but it has blocked only one.
MOFCOM’s March 2009 prohibition of The Coca-Cola Co.’s closely watched proposed acquisition of Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd., China’s largest juice company, ignited a furor. Some members of the foreign investment community saw the rejection as a sign of protectionism on China’s part, of the country’s merger control agency bowing to political pressure.
