Swire Pacific buys Coca-Cola’s bottling business in Vietnam and Cambodia for US$1 billion
- Swire Pacific will buy Coca-Cola Indochina through its two wholly owned subsidiaries, Swire Beverages Holdings and Swire Coca-Cola
- The investment is Swire’s first in the rapidly growing Southeast Asia beverages market, company says in exchange filing
Swire Pacific will pay Coca-Cola Indochina, which prepares, packages, distributes and sells Coca-Cola’s beverages in the two countries, US$1.015 billion in cash, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. The deal is subject to anti-trust approval and will take place within six months of the signing of the agreement.
Swire will buy Coca-Cola Indochina through its two wholly owned subsidiaries, Swire Beverages Holdings and Swire Coca-Cola, from Coca-Cola (Japan).
“The transactions will be Swire Pacific’s first investment in the beverages market in Southeast Asia, and will expand the group’s beverages business into one of the most rapidly growing beverages markets,” the company said in the filing.
Swire Coca-Cola is the principal investment holding company for the Swire group’s soft drink businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong. It is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the world, with exclusive rights to manufacture, market and distribute Coke products in most provinces of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and part of the western United States.