Coca-Cola buys leading Russian fruit juice producer
Multon has production facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg and produces and distributes juice products under the brands Rich, Nico and Dobry.
01/04/05 Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. (Coca-Cola HBC, CCHBC) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire, jointly with The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), Russian based Multon. Multon is the second largest producer of juices in the Russian market, with a strong market share in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Urals.
Multon has production facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg and produces and distributes juice products under the brands Rich, Nico and Dobry. The acquisition which is consistent with CCHBC's strategy of expanding in the non- carbonated segment is expected to yield significant cost and revenue synergies for its Russian operations. Multon is expected to generate 65-70 million unit cases in the remaining part of 2005. The acquisition is expected to benefit CCHBC's EPS by approximately 6 Euro cents in 2005.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be finalized in April of 2005. In 2004, Multon had revenue of $336 million and juice volume of approximately 500 million litres representing approximately a 25% market share.
