SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Inc., through its subsidiaries, produces and sells fruit juice concentrates, fruit beverages, and other fruit-related products in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates through six segments: Concentrated Apple Juice and Apple Aroma, Concentrated Kiwifruit Juice and Kiwifruit Puree, Concentrated Pear Juice, Fruit Juice Beverages, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, and Others. It offers fruit juice concentrates, such as fruit purees, concentrated fruit purees, and concentrated fruit juices; concentrated apple, pear, and kiwifruit juices; pure fruit juice and fruit cider beverages, including apple juice, pear juice, kiwifruit juice, mulberry juice, kiwifruit cider, mulberry cider, peach juice, and pomegranate juice; and fresh fruits and vegetables, fructose, concentrated fruit and vegetable juices, and turnjujube juice, as well as other by products, such as kiwifruit seeds. The company sells its products directly to end-users; to hotels, supermarkets, and other outlets; and through trade Websites, as well as indirectly through distributors and agents. SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Inc. is headquartered in Xi'an, the People's Republic of China.
Stock un-halted XI'AN, China, July 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SkyPeople Fruit Juice, Inc. (SPU) ("SkyPeople" or "the Company"), a producer of fruit juice concentrates, fruit juice beverages and other fruit-related products, today is issuing this news release in response to unusual market activity in its common stock. The Company's common stock experienced much higher than usual trading volume and significant stock price gains on both July 14th, 2016, and July 15th, 2016. The NASDAQ Stock Market ("Nasdaq") placed a trading halt on the Company's common stock effective July 15th, 2016 at 4:00 pm Eastern Time, pending its request for additional information from the Company. As disclosed by the Company in this news release, on or about July 15, 2016, SkyPeople discovered an online news item appearing on the Chinese website EGD1319.com written in Chinese that was attributed to Future World Group. The news item stated that Future World Group had successfully gained a listing on Nasdaq by acquiring SkyPeople and that it had become the controlling shareholder of SkyPeople. This online news item is inaccurate. On July 10, 2016, Future World Investment Holding Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, and its sole shareholder, entered into a share purchase agreement with Mr. Yongke Xue, the largest shareholder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SkyPeople, and certain companies controlled by Mr. Xue through which Mr. Xue holds shares of SkyPeople's common stock. Pursuant to the share purchase agreement, Mr. Xue and his controlled entities agreed to sell substantially all of the SkyPeople shares owned by them to Future World Investment Holding Limited, but only upon the occurrence and completion of identified conditions to such a sale. These conditions include, but are not limited to, the shares subject to the sale being released from a pledge securing certain obligations to third parties, Mr. Xue obtaining funding for and reaching agreement with the Company for the purchase of certain of the Company's operating entities, and the Company's Board and shareholders approving the sale of these operating entities to Mr. Xue. Mr. Xue will file a 13D with the SEC by the required time period to include the terms of the stock purchase agreement. The closing conditions of the share purchase agreement have not been met and may never be met. Therefore, ownership of Mr. Xue's common shares has not been transferred to Future World Investment Holding Limited pursuant to the share purchase agreement or otherwise, and Mr. Xue remains the controlling stockholder of SkyPeople. The Company cautions its shareholders and others that there is no certainty that the contingent conditions of the share purchase agreement will be met and the transaction between Mr. Xue and Future World Investment Holding Limited will be closed. In addition, SkyPeople does not undertake any obligation to provide any updates with respect to this or any other transaction except as required under applicable law and listing rules. The Company has requested that the Chinese website EGD1319.com correct the inaccurate statements attributed to them. Further, the Company reserves the right to take legal action for damages or other relief against any entities and/or individuals who are responsible for disseminating inaccurate and misleading information about the Company.
