China’s Bright Food has walked away from talks to buy GNC, a US retailer of nutritional products, according to people familiar with the matter, underlining the difficulties of sealing deals with emerging market buyers.
The news that Bright Food, which in December was said to be close to buying GNC in a transaction worth $2.5bn-$3bn, comes shortly after the Chinese dairy group ended discussions with the private equity owners of UK-based United Biscuits.
The scuppered talks indicate that, rather than being the new buyers of last resort in the consumer sector, emerging markets groups are still learning to navigate international mergers and acquisitions processes.