Shares of Huiyuan, China's top juice maker, jumped 25percent to a five-week high earlier on Friday, on reports thatthe companies were back in talks after Coke's failed $2.4billion bid to engineer the largest-ever foreign takeover of aChinese company. Huiyuan acknowledged the press reports suggesting the twowere back in discussions on Friday. "The company is unaware of the source of such informationand would like to confirm that it is not in possession of anyprice-sensitive information which would require anannouncement" under Hong Kong securities regulations, Huiyuansaid in a statement. Coca-Cola, the world's largest soft drink maker, said ithas a policy of not commenting on speculation. A source familiar with the situation said on Friday that notalks were taking place. Citing another source, Reuters reported on Thursday thattalks had taken place in Beijing between the two companies. TheWall Street Journal, also citing unidentified sources, had saidinformal negotiations could include Coke taking a minoritystake in Huiyuan.

Shares in Hong Kong-listed Huiyuan hit a high of HK$6.3Friday morning before closing at HK$5.73, up 13.4 percent Cokefell 14 cents to $42.78 on the New York Stock Exchange. CHEAPER TO BUY IN NOW Huiyuan's shares have lost nearly 50 percent of their valuein the past three months, after the failed takeover bid andplummeting valuations, making a second possible deal muchcheaper for Coke. The all-cash deal Coke proposed in September offered ahefty premium of HK$12.20 for the juice maker -- 43 timesHuiyuan's forecast 2008 earnings at the time. Some Coke investors said they were not totally disappointedwhen the deal collapsed because of the price tag. China said the deal would have been bad for competition, inwhat was the biggest test yet of how Chinese officials wouldimplement a tough anti-monopoly law enacted last year.

But now, minority stakes in assets may alleviate China'santitrust fears and pave the way for future tie-ups. France'sGroupe Danone SA (DANO.PA) already owns more than a fifth ofHuiyuan. Huiyuan controls more than a tenth of the Chinese fruit andvegetable juice market, which grew 15 percent last year to $2billion. Coca-Cola has a 9.7 percent market share and dominatesin diluted juices. "Coke has different options, one of them would be takingover Danone's stake, but Huiyuan can't expect premiumvaluations anymore. It's unlikely to fetch the HK$12.2 pershare it did last time around," said Tai. (Additional reporting by Joseph Chaney and Parvathy Ullatil;Editing by Lincoln Feast) Stocks Mergers & Acquisitions Global Markets China France.

LANCASTER, Pa., April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Eastern Insurance Holdings,Inc. (Nasdaq: EIHI) announced today that it plans to release financial resultsfor the first quarter ended March 31, 2009, following the close of markettrading on Thursday, May 7, 2009. EIHI will host a conference call on Friday, May 8, 2009 at 10:00 a.m ET toreview the Company's 2009 first quarter results The conference call willfeature remarks by Bruce M. Eckert, Chief Executive Officer, Michael L.Boguski, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Kevin M Shook, Treasurerand Chief Financial Officer.