China rejected Coca-Cola’s 2.5 billion USD bid to buy Huiyuan on Wednesday in a closely watched case that stirred nationalist opposition to the sale of a successful homegrown brand to foreigners, AP reported. The proposed purchase of Huiyuan Juice was rejected on anti-monopoly grounds, the Commerce Ministry said. It would have been the biggest foreign acquisition of a Chinese company to date. A Coca-Cola spokesman in Hong Kong had no immediate comment. Phone calls to Huiyuan were not answered. Huiyuan's founders and major shareholders had endorsed the sale as a way for the company to improve product development and marketing.
