ZHU Xinli has gone from prey to predator. The firm he runs, China Huiyuan, is the country’s largest privately owned juice firm. In 2008 Coca Cola, the largest drinks firm in the world, tried to buy his company but was prevented from doing so by Chinese regulators. Today, Mr Zhu is on the prowl for big acquisitions of his own—down under.
China’s juice king joined nearly two dozen of China's leading private businessmen on a recent visit to Australia. The group, which calls itself the China Entrepreneurs Club, wanted to investigate new opportunities created by an ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) that was agreed in principle by President Xi Jinping of China and Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, on the sidelines of a recent G20 summit in Brisbane. Such is the importance Australia attaches to this deal that on December 1st Mr Abbott himself met the visiting fat cats.
One important aspect of the FTA, which is to be formalised in a few months, is that it makes life easier for private Chinese firms. In the past state-owned firms looking for big energy or mining deals dominated southerly investment flows—and, in the process, provoked wails of a takeover by China of Australia's crown jewels (Australia's natural resources are in huge demand in China: see chart).
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