On the Eastern side of the Atlantic deals have included a November agreement between SABMiller (SBMRY), Coca-Cola and South Africa’s Gutsche Family Investments to create Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, with pro forma annual revenue of $2.94 billion.
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The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Coke and the European bottling partners were in advanced talks, according to people familiar with the matter. “With the strong leadership that will be assembled from across the three organizations, Coca-Cola European Partners will be well-positioned to deliver better and more effective service to customers throughout Western Europe and drive profitable growth across multiple beverage categories”. Since the starting of 2015, Coca-Cola’s stock price has declined by 2.9%. Frank’s International N.V. (FI)’s weekly performance is – 6.77% and compared to their 52 week low, they are down -3.39% with a dividend yield of 3.85%.
Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:CCE): On Tuesday heightened volatility was witnessed in Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
“The creation of a larger, unified Coca-Cola bottling partner in Western Europe represents an important step in our global system’s evolution”, said Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive of The Coca-Cola Company. By relocating its headquarters to Europe, CCE will no longer have to convert its results into dollars or pay U.S. taxes on repatriated profits.
Enterprises CEO John Brock will hold that same post at the new entity, while Iberian executive chairwoman Sol Daurella will be chairwoman.
“This is not even remotely a tax-driven transaction”.
Coke also had been trying to divest the German bottling business for several years. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a GBX 1,220 ($19.06) price objective on shares of Coca Cola HBC AG in a research note on Monday, July 13th.
The deal is the latest in a steady stream of tie-ups among Coke bottlers. The 52-week high of the share price is $52.3 and the company has a market cap of $11,573 million.
Fund firm Aviva Investors said on Wednesday it opposed a $2.3 billion plan by Vedanta Ltd to buy out minority shareholders in Cairn India as the deal failed to deliver sufficient value.
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The new company will be headquartered and incorporated in London and its shares will be traded on Euronext Amsterdam, the NYSE and the Madrid Stock Exchange. Goldman Sachs’ price objective suggests a potential downside of 16.08% from the company’s previous close.
