Following its announcement on 12 August 2021, Coca-Cola HBC AG (“Coca-Cola HBC”) announced the completion of the acquisition by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Coca-Cola HBC Holdings BV (“CCH Holdings”), of approximately 52.7 % of Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Egypt S.A.E. (“CCBCE”) from MAC Beverages Limited (“MBL”) and certain of its affiliated parties for cash consideration of US$304 million, subject to certain balance sheet adjustments. An additional earnout amount may be payable based on CCBCE’s financial performance in 2021. Mr. Abdul Galil Besher, the current executive chairman of CCBCE, will remain as non-executive chairman of CCBCE. The transaction with MBL also involves the potential acquisition by CCH Holdings, at the same price per share to be paid to MBL, of another approximately 2.8 % stake from certain other minority shareholders pursuant to agreements to be entered into in due course.
In addition, a convertible loan issued to a wholly-owned affiliate of The Coca-Cola Company (the “TCCC Seller”) by CCBCE, convertible into new CCBCE shares, has been transferred to CCH Holdings for a cash consideration of approximately US$22 million (which is equal to its outstanding principal amount and unpaid interest).
Completion of the acquisition by CCH Holdings of approximately 42 % of CCBCE from the TCCC Seller, also announced on 12 August 2021, is expected to occur later this month, bringing CCH Holdings’ total ownership in CCBCE to 94.7 %.
The acquisition gives Coca-Cola HBC access to the second-largest non-alcoholic ready-to-drink (“NARTD”) market in Africa by volume, building on existing scale in Africa and increasing Coca-Cola HBC’s exposure to high growth geographies. There is a significant opportunity to leverage Coca-Cola HBC’s proven route-to-market capabilities and 70 years of experience operating in emerging markets to increase penetration of The Coca-Cola Company’s brand portfolio and drive category leadership.
Britvic announced it has reached agreement with PepsiCo for a new and exclusive 20-year franchise bottling agreement for the production, distribution, marketing and sales of its carbonated soft drink brands – including Pepsi, 7UP and Mountain Dew – in Great Britain. The new agreement extends the relationship, which commenced in 1987, to 31 December 2040 and includes the Rockstar energy brand, for which Britvic will take responsibility from 1 November this year.
Britvic also announced its intent for all plastic bottles in GB to be made from 100 % recycled plastic (rPET) by the end of 2022 – three years earlier than originally planned, and ahead of the previous target of 50 %. This will cover the entire GB portfolio of Britvic-owned and PepsiCo brands, and demonstrates both companies’ commitment to sustainability and to a healthier planet.
Following long years of contract-bottling, the smoothie and juice producer innocent has decided to build the very first bottling plant of its own. Krones won the order for four complete PET bottling lines and the corresponding IT landscape. The paramount consideration for “the blender”, as innocent has christened its greenfield project, was sustainability: the aim is to build an entirely CO2-neutral factory. “But we’re also keen to reduce water consumption to a minimum, since we want to treat and re-use as much of it as possible,” explains Sam Woollett, Engineering and Facilities Lead. Each of the four identical PET lines handles up to 32,000 containers an hour. The new plant has been tasked with filling about 400 million bottles of chilled drinks a year. In all, innocent has invested approximately 250 million US-dollars in this project.
Four complete PET bottling lines from Krones
The Contipure AseptBloc DA blow-moulder/filler block consists of a Contiform 3 Pro stretch blow-moulding machine and a Modulfill Asept aseptic filler. For the Contipure D preform sterilisation module, innocent naturally enough opted for a particularly sustainable version. This ensures a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), thanks to lower consumption of hydrogen peroxide, steam and energy, plus shorter preparation times. All containers after being filled are fitted with a tamper-evident seal and – depending on the format involved – dressed in a wrap-around or pressure-sensitive label. What’s more, the modularised Topmodul labeller is block-synchronised directly with the Variopac Pro FS packer.
Syskron is digitalising all the factory’s processes
As the group’s digitalisation specialist, the Krones subsidiary Syskron has developed a turnkey MES concept for innocent that through appropriate interfaces also integrates the ERP system, the process control and warehouse management systems in the new plant. This concept includes various solutions from the SitePilot IT family brand, not least the Planning production planning system, the Line Management order and administration system, plus Line Diagnostics for production data acquisition and analysis. From the category of Share2Act services, innocent will in future be using Connect: this enables all information, such as shift schedules, to be made available to all staff in digital form.
Chief Blender Andy Joynson explained that innocent is “aiming to build the earth’s favourite little healthy drinks factory, the blender. It’s location in the Port of Rotterdam is no accident: We will minimise the distance between the place where the fruits arrive from overseas and the actual production facility. This enables us to reduce the company’s CO2 footprint by about ten per cent. We are delighted that we will be able to bottle our healthy drinks in our own plant, but more pleased that we will ensure that the production operation and the buildings comply with our sustainable standards.”
The Board of Britvic announced that it has entered into exclusive discussions with Refresco over the potential sale by Britvic of its three juice manufacturing sites in France, its related private label juice business, and the Fruité brand. The proposed sale is subject to a consultation process with the relevant employee representatives, which has now been initiated, and also subject to competition clearance by the French Competition Authority. Britvic will retain ownership of the Pressade and Fruit Shoot brands, which would be manufactured by Refresco as part of a long-term partner arrangement. The transaction will not affect the Teisseire and Moulin De Valdonne brands or the private label syrups business, which are all manufactured at the remaining site in Crolles.
The value of the transaction is not material and would result in a modest impact on adjusted EBIT. The transaction would be expected to complete in Spring 2020. The retained business would be smaller and higher margin, enabling the local management team to focus on building its branded business. An update will be provided at the Preliminary results announcement on 27 November 2019.
About Britvic
Britvic is one of the leading branded soft drinks businesses in Europe. The company combines its own leading brand portfolio including Robinsons, Tango, J2O, Fruit Shoot, Teisseire and MiWadi with PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi, 7UP and Lipton Ice Tea which Britvic produces and sells in GB and Ireland under exclusive PepsiCo agreements.
Britvic is the largest supplier of branded still soft drinks in Great Britain (“GB”) and the number two supplier of branded carbonated soft drinks in GB. Britvic is an industry leader in the island of Ireland with brands such as MiWadi and Ballygowan, in France with brands such as Teisseire and Pressade and in Brazil with Maguary and Dafruta. Britvic is growing its reach into other territories through franchising, export and licensing. Britvic’s management team has successfully developed the business through a clear strategy of organic growth and international expansion based on creating and building scale brands. Britvic is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the code BVIC and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index.
With reference to the press release dated 3 October 2017, Refresco Group N.V. announced it has entered into negotiations with PAI Partners SAS (PAI).
On 3 October, Refresco received an unsolicited, indicative and conditional proposal from PAI, which was carefully reviewed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board in line with their fiduciary duties. Since, interaction has taken place with PAI on a number of topics, including the financial and non-financial conditions. Following this interaction, the company has now entered into negotiations with PAI.
The Boards will take the interest of all stakeholders into account, and will continue to focus on the closing of the transformational acquisition of Cott’s bottling activities.
