With so many companies scaling back, it's nice to hear about one charging ahead, even if it is in China -- which is where Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO), plans to invest $2 billion over three years.
The Wall Street Journal China blog
put the number in context, noting that from 1979 to the present, Coke has invested about $1.6 billion in China. The report said Coke's money will be used for new plants and distribution infrastructure, sales and marketing and R&D (it opened a $90 million R&D center in Shanghai on Friday).
We'll have to see how that affects Chinese officials' opinions of
Coke's intention to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. for $2.4 billion. The fact that China's economic growth is slowing could help to
boost the deal's prospects.
The deal, billed as the biggest foreign corporate takeover in China,
has echoes of InBev SA's acquisition of American icon Anheuser-Busch
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