Pepsi Looking to Buy Russian Juice Leader
The Lebedyansky deal, whose brands include Ya and Tonus, could be tied up in September or October. Pepsico controls around a fifth of the Russian soft drinks market and around a third of potato chip sales, but it has just 2 per cent of the juice market.
14/08/07 Pepsico is looking to buy top Russian juice maker Lebedyansky for $1.5 billion to $2 billion, according to reports. The Kommersant daily cited unidentified banking sources and a manager in Lebedyansky as saying that the U.S.-based beverage and snack maker was in discussions to buy more than 76 percent in the company from its founders for more than US$1.5 billion (€1.1 billion).
The deal for Lebedyansky, whose brands include Ya and Tonus, could be tied up in September or October, the paper said.
Pepsico controls around a fifth of the Russian soft drinks market and around a third of potato chip sales, but it has just 2 per cent of the Russian juice market through the Tropicana brand.
Western beverage companies are looking to non-carbonated drinks like water and juices for sales growth as consumers, particularly in North America, turn away from sugar-laden soft drinks.
PepsiCo in June bought Ukrainian juice maker Sandora for US$542 million in June, while Coca-Cola Co. purchased Russia's Muton in 2005 for US$500 million.
