The Danish soft drink company CO-RO has acquired the majority shareholding in Chinese distribution firm Golden Creation Trade (JKD).
The acquisition of JKD is expected to generate a 30% growth rate in 2019 for CO-RO in China in the hotels, restaurants and catering sector (HoReCa), according to CO-RO.
JKD is a distributing company, that holds brand distribution licenses for a range of products in catering. That includes a license to sell juice products under the brand Huiyuan, China’s leading juice brand.
CO-RO is the owner of the Sunquick brand which is the largest international brand in the HoReCa sector in China. Now having the exclusive rights to sell both Sunquick and Huiyuan in the HoReCa sector, CO-RO is expecting to achieve growth for both brands.
CO-RO has key production plants in China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, where the trademark Sunquick enjoys a position as brand leader.
“CO-RO’s acquisition of JKD perfectly underpins our growth strategy in Asia. The Asian market is very important to us, as it represents approximately 25% of our total turnover. In addition, the Chinese market is our largest one in Asia and clearly essential because of the high growth rate,” said Søren Holm Jensen, CEO of CO-RO.
During 2019, CO-RO and JKD will become integrated as one.
CO-RO A/S is a Danish company specialising in high quality fruit based soft drinks and owner of a range of internationally known brands including Sunquick. Its brands includes Sun Lolly and Sun Top. CO-RO was founded in 1942, today has business partners in more than 80 countries and entered the Chinese market in 1986.
