Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola announced on Wednesday it has agreed to buy SABMiller’s 54.5% stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) from AB InBev for $3.15bn.
Coca-Cola and AB InBev said in a joint statement that they had agreed to the transfer of AB InBev’s 54.5% stake in CCBA to The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC). The stake was formerly owned by SABMiller before the mega beer acquisition that saw SAB merge with AB InBev.
Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI), the fifth largest bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world has expressed interest in acquiring SABMiller’s stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA).
In a statement released by the company on Monday, it said: “Coca-Cola Icecek A.S. (CCI) has decided to engage with investment banks to evaluate any potential alternatives in relation to The Coca-Cola Company (“TCCC”) announced intention to sell this stake to strategic partner. Any further developments on this will be separately announced going forward.”
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said it hopes to have a new bottling partner to replace SABMiller in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) by 2018.
Coke announced last week that it would exercise its change-of-ownership rights to acquire SABMiller’s 57% stake in CCBA from AB InBev and find new suitable partners. The soft drinks giant said it expects about four months of negotiation with AB InBev before acquiring SABMiller’s stake and another 12 months to obtain regulatory approval from the South African authorities.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company may split SABMiller’s 57% stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) among more than one franchise partner, according to analysts.
In a statement released by Coke after announcing its plan to buy-back SABMiller’s stake in CCBA, the company said, it would negotiate with “potential partners” to refranchise CCBA.
Coca-Cola Company, on Tuesday, announced the creation of a new global structure meant to better align its operating units against its global bottling footprint. The beverage giant also announced a number of key management changes to its international leadership structure.
Coca-Cola Enterprises, the anchor bottler of the newly formed Coca-Cola European Partners has warned that a “difficult operating environment” will affect 2015 and 2016 full-year performances. It said that currency translation is expected to hurt 2015 per-share numbers by about 18 percent.
In October, the company reported a 15 percent drop in net sales for the first nine months of 2015 and announced a few days ago that net sales in the 12 months of 2015 will be “slightly negative”. However, it is forecasting slightly higher net sales for 2016 full-year.
The European Anti-Trust Commission has approved the merger of two European bottlers of Coca-Cola products with Coca-Cola Enterprises to form what would be known as Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), the largest independent bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world.
Coca-Cola Enterprises, the bottling group will merge with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetranke, the German bottling arm of The Coca-Cola Company to form this new company.
Three independent Coca-Cola bottlers have agreed to merge their operations to serve more than 300 million consumers in 13 Western European countries.
Coca-Cola Enterprises, the bottling group will merge with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetranke, the German bottling business of the Coca-Cola Company. The merge is part of a push by Coca-Cola Company to consolidate and cut costs amid slowing sales.
