Coca-Cola Enterprises Shareholders Approve Merger
May 24 2016 - 10:30AM
Dow Jones News
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. shareholders voted to approve the
company's proposed bottling merger Tuesday, which would create the
largest independent Coke bottler by sales world-wide.
The vote brings Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Enterprises, a big,
independent Coke bottler in Western Europe, closer to its pending
tie-up with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Germany's Coca-Cola
Erfrischungsgeträ nke AG. The deal is expected to close this
weekend.
The merger furthers a push by Coca-Cola Co. to consolidate its
bottlers around the world and lower costs. Amid falling soda sales
in many of its markets, including Europe, the company has been
seeking to merge its smaller overseas bottlers into bigger, more
efficient operations.
Larger bottlers would be better able to market and advertise
Coke and other beverages and have more flexibility in pricing and
packaging. Consumers have been moving away from high-calorie soft
drinks toward bottled water, energy drinks and teas, taxing
smaller, less efficient and flexible bottlers.
Meanwhile, Coke has been refranchising its North American
bottlers. After years of snail-paced progress, the company is
racing to sell off its U.S. manufacturing and distribution
operations by next year so it can focus on its more-profitable
concentrate-making business.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 24, 2016 10:15 ET (14:15 GMT)
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