KO Coca Cola Company

Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday that it plans to bring some of its top U.S. bottlers together under a new supply system, the soda giant's latest move to cut costs amid tepid sales.

Coke said the new national supply group will include independent bottlers Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Swire Coca-Cola USA and the company-owned Coca-Cola Refreshments and Coca-Cola North America. Together, the bottlers account for 95% of the volume produced in the U.S.

The initial terms of the agreement call for Coca-Cola Refreshments, which is owned by Coke, to divest nine production facilities valued at about $380 million to the other bottlers between 2016 and 2018.

Coke Chief Executive Muhtar Kent said the company will tap the strengths of the four biggest-producing bottlers in its system to operate a streamlined, "highly competitive" national supply system.

Coke has already made moves to consolidate its global bottling operations.

In August, three Coca-Cola Co. bottlers agreed to a merger combining $12 billion in revenue across 13 European countries. Publicly traded bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., or CCE, also would relocate its headquarters to the U.K. from the U.S. in the planned tie-up with Spain's privately held Coca-Cola Iberian Partners SA and Germany's Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgeträ nke AG, the latter owned by Atlanta-based Coke.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 24, 2015 08:25 ET (12:25 GMT)

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