Juice maker eyes North American orchards

Company plans to use mergers and acquisitions to expand overseas

BEIJING - Shaanxi Haisheng Fresh Fruit Co Ltd, the largest producer of apple-juice concentrate in the world, is planning to buy fruit orchards in the United States and Canada to expand its presence overseas, said a company official.

"It (the purchasing plan) is part of our strategic business transformation," said Li Rong, director of capital operations of the company. "We are looking for possible opportunities to use mergers and acquisitions to own fruit plantations in North America. And we aren't excluding opportunities to work on deals involving fruit-juice processing and distribution overseas if they are good enough," she said, declining to elaborate.