Photo/Shetuwang

Feb. 24 (NBD) -- PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP), U.S. beverage manufacturing giant, on Sunday announced that it has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Hangzhou Haomusi Food., Ltd ("Be & Cheery") from Haoxiangni Health Food Co., Ltd. ("Haoxiangni", 002582.SZ) for 705 million U.S. dollars.

Stock of Haoxiangni fell by 2.14 percent on Monday to close at 10.96 yuan.

Be & Cheery, also known as "Baicaowei" in Chinese, is one of the largest snacks companies in China. Based in Hangzhou, Be & Cheery has many product offerings across nuts, dried fruits, meat snacks, baked goods and confectionery, and predominantly sells online through the major e-commerce platforms in the country.

National Business Daily (NBD) noticed that Haoxiangni bought Be & Cherry for 960 million yuan (137 million U.S. dollars) in 2016 and the latter's performance has spiraled upward in the ensuing years. Last year, Be & Cherry grossed around 5.96 billion yuan in operation revenue, contributing 78.8 percent of the listed parent.

For PepsiCo, this transaction marks an important step in the company’s goal to become China’s leading consumer-centric food and beverage player. "Be & Cheery is highly complementary to our existing China business with its broad product portfolio, asset light model, and focus on e-commerce," said Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Greater China.

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the food industry, held that it's a natural choice for PepsiCo, whose traditional beverage business undergoes comparatively slow growth, to up the ante in the snacks domain in the Asian markets, especially in China where such sector enjoys rapid development.

Email: limenglin@nbd.com.cn