(Yicai) July 23 -- Interchina Water Treatment’s shares surged by their daily trading limit for the second day in a row after the Chinese sewage treatment firm unveiled a plan to take control of bankrupt Huiyuan Food and Beverage by increasing its stake in the maker of fruit juices.

Interchina Water [SHA: 600187] closed up 10 percent at CNY1.88 (26 US cents) a share in Shanghai today, after soaring by the same yesterday. The stock has fallen 29 percent so far this year.

Interchina Water will raise its stake in Huiyuan to over 51 percent from 21.9 percent by purchasing shares of Wensheng Hui, a company established by Wensheng Asset Management for Huiyuan’s restructuring, the Harbin-based buyer announced yesterday. The shares will be bought in cash, but the specific amount was not disclosed.

Interchina Water has increased its stake in Wensheng Asset three times since 2022.

When listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Huiyuan -- China’s so-called ‘Juice King’ -- was once worth more than HKD30 billion (USD3.8 billion). Its share price began to slide after China’s commerce ministry ended Coca-Cola’s proposed USD2.4 billion plan to take over Huiyuan due to monopoly concerns.

The 30-year-old company 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 (USD220 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 (USD11.4 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 (USD29.8 million) from the previous year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione