The U.S. multinational food and beverage maker said the acquisition of Be & Cheery, which sells snacks from nuts to dried fruits mainly on Chinese e-commerce platforms, was an important step in its goal to become China's leading consumer-focused food and beverage company.

"Be & Cheery adds direct-to-consumer capability, positioning us to capitalise on continued growth in e-commerce, and a local brand that is able to stretch across a broad portfolio of products, through both online and offline channels," Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Greater China, said in a statement on Sunday.

"We also expect to leverage Be & Cheery's innovation and consumer insights capabilities to drive innovation in other key PepsiCo growth markets."

Haoxiangni, which is based in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, said in a separate filing that it had decided to sell as it wanted to focus on the jujube business.

Founded in 2003, Be & Cheery is one of the largest online snack companies in China and reported revenues of about 5 billion yuan ($711.7 million) in 2019, the companies said.

The transaction is subject to a Haoxiangni shareholder vote, certain regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, they said.

(This story corrects Haoxiangni's headquarters to Zhengzhou, not Hangzhou, in fifth paragraph)

(Reporting by Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)