Coca-Cola Loses China Huiyuan

Tit-for-tat or the Chinese anti-monopoly law is in affect - read the article "Hard to Swallow" from The Economist here.  The article states:

"On March 18th an answer emerged with the rejection of the largest outright acquisition by a foreign firm, a $2.4 billion offer by Coca-Cola for China Huiyuan, China’s largest juice company."

According to The Economist:

"The most benign interpretation of the rejection being bandied about by lawyers and bankers is that it reflects a political response to critical comments by America’s new administration. The more worrying interpretation is that, even as China publicly urges other countries to commit to opening their markets to Chinese investment and trade, it is imposing yet another barrier to outsiders. Worse still, the barriers are in its domestic consumer sector, one of the few global economic bright spots."

Does the consumer lose out in the end?  I believe they do.