(Yicai) Sept. 12 -- Shares of Interchina Water Treatment surged by their daily trading limit despite the Chinese sewage treatment firm's plan to take control of bankrupt Huiyuan Food and Beverage by increasing its stake in the fruit juice maker facing uncertainties.

Interchina Water [SHA: 600187] closed up 10 percent at CNY3.07 (52 US cents) a share in Shanghai today, after dropping by 2.1 percent yesterday. The stock has nearly doubled in price since the acquisition plan was announced on July 22.

Interchina Water's plan to takeover Huiyuan faces issues after the entire 52.5 percent stake of its transaction partner Yongrui Enterprise Management Partnership in Wensheng Hui, which owns 60 percent of Huiyuan, was frozen by the Shenzhen Futian district court, Harbin-based Interchina Water announced yesterday.

The shares of Wensheng Hui were frozen due to an infringement liability dispute involving its major shareholder Yongrui Enterprise, with a freezing period from Aug. 20 to Aug. 19, 2027, Yicai learned.

Yongrui Enterprise is filing a reconsideration and an objection to the ruling, Interchina Water pointed out.

Interchina Water will raise its stake in Huiyuan by purchasing shares of Wensheng Hui to increase its stake to more than 51 percent from 36.5 percent, according to its initial plan. The shares will be bought in cash, it noted, without disclosing the specific amount.

Wensheng Hui was established by Wensheng Asset Management for Huiyuan's restructuring. Interchina Water has increased its stake in Wensheng Asset three times since 2022.

Established in 1992, Huiyuan was once China's largest juice company but it went into bankruptcy reorganization at the end of 2020 and Wensheng Asset was approved to lead that effort in June 2022. Later that same year, Wensheng Asset announced it would invest CNY1.6 billion (USD224.6 million) to restart Huiyuan's juice business and bring in Interchina Water.

Since investing in Huiyuan, Interchina Water has reaped significant returns. Interchina Water earned CNY82.8 million (USD11.6 million) from its indirect stake in Huiyan last year, which helped the company turn losses into a CNY30 million net profit, according to its annual report. Revenue plunged 25 percent to CNY217 million (USD30.5 million) from the previous year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev