(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)On Wednesday, Global soft drink giant Coca-Cola (KO) announced in public that it has made a bid to acquire one of China’s largest juice makers for about $2.4 billion. The deal for the China Huiyuan Juice Group, which is based in Beijing, would be one of the biggest foreign acquisitions ever of a Chinese company and would represent Coke’s latest move to expand in China.

Coca-Cola announced the deal in Hong Kong, calling Huiyuan, which had sales of about $380 million in 2007, a "long established and successful juice brand in China."

Coke, which was also an official sponsor of the 2008 Olympics and aggressively marketed its brand in Beijing this summer, already sells more than a billion bottles of Coke in China and products like Sprite and Minute Maid orange juice.

With China’s food and beverage markets growing quickly, Coke and other major American and European companies had been eyeing China’s fast expanding beverage market since quite a few years.

China’s economic boom has created a huge middle class that is becoming increasingly fond of western brands . Between 2001 and 2007, the total value of fruit juice sales in China more than tripled, pushing into soft drink sales, which grew by 143 percent, according to Shanghai-based market research firm Access Asia. The Chinese juice market -- encompassing pure juice, diluted juices and nectars -- is expected by analysts to grow at above 10 percent in coming years alongside rising incomes, benefiting Huiyuan, Tingyi, Uni-president and others.

That trend mirrored changes in global demand. Coke’s sales of soft drinks grew by one percent over the most recent quarter while sales of still beverages — including juices, teas and water — jumped 13 percent. In North America, Coke’s largest market, sales of Coke Zero and Glaceau, the maker of Vitaminwater and Smartwater, both posted double-digit increases while soda sales fell by 4 percent.

Founded in 1992, Huiyuan has become a huge player in China’s big cities. The company’s sales of beverages, including orange, apple and pear juice, has doubled in recent years. Huiyuan went public in Hong Kong in 2007, but saw its shares fall sharply this year, along with the Chinese and Hong Kong stock markets. The company’s Hong Kong shares soared Wednesday on news of a potential takeover, nearly tripling to over 11 Hong Kong dollars a share, up from about 4.

Huiyuan says that it has about 46 percent of China’s fresh juice market, according to A.C. Nielsen, and that the company exports beverage products to 30 countries, including the United States and Japan. Huiyuan also has investments and a partnership with the French food and beverage giant Groupe Danone. Huiyuan expects its revenue to grow five-fold in 3-5 years to 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) from 2 billion yuan in 2006.

However, local experts are pointing out that the deal will have its share of problems.