European Commission approves The Coca-Cola Company and Cobega acquisition

TCCC is a brand owner, trademark licensor and producer of soft drink concentrates, syrups, fountain soft drink syrup and finished beverages. It sells its products to bottlers. Cobega is active in bottling and distributing beverages.

Four Coca-Cola bottlers

CCEP will bring together four Coca-Cola bottlers in Germany, Belgium, France, UK, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Iceland.

TCCC already controls one of the four bottlers, Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke. Cobega controls two of the bottlers, Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Vífilfell.

The Commission said the proposed acquisition raises no competition concerns, as the activities of the bottlers do not overlap geographically and customers currently using the Coca-Cola bottlers would continue to have sufficient alternative choices.

BeverageDaily reported in August​ the merger will create the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in terms of net revenues (combined company pro forma 2015 expected net revenues are $12.6bn and EBITDA of $2.1bn).

The companies will combine their bottling operations to serve more than 300m consumers in 13 Western European countries and the new entity will be headquartered in London.

Coca-Cola is a global business operating on a local scale. The Coca-Cola system therefore consists of The Coca-Cola Company and more than 250 bottling partners across the world.

10 year bottling agreement

Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, said at the time, the deal was an ‘important step in the system’s evolution’ and Coca-Cola is adapting to meet the changing demands of the market.

The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola European Partners will start with a 10 year bottling agreement, with the chance to renew for another 10 years. 

Sol Daurella, who is currently executive chairwoman of Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, will become chairwoman of Coca-Cola European Partners. John Brock, currently chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, will become CEO.

Damian Gammell, currently Beverage Group President and CEO of brewer Anadolu Efes (and previous CEO of Coca-Coa Erfrischungsgetränke) will become Coca-Cola Enterprises’ chief operating officer, which will lead to the same position with Coca-Cola European Partners upon closing.

Manik Jhangiani, currently CFO for Coca-Cola Enterprises, will become the CFO of Coca-Cola European Partners.

Coca-Cola Enterprises shareholders will own 48% of Coca-Cola European Partners on a fully diluted basis. Coca-Cola Iberian Partners will own 34% and The Coca-Cola Company will own 18%.