Unilever Selling Latin America Soy Beverages to Coca Cola and Subsidiary for $575 million
June 01 2016 - 10:21AM
Dow Jones News
By Saabira Chaudhuri
Unilever PLC (UL) has struck a deal with Coca Cola Co. (KO) and
soft-drink bottler Coca-Cola Femsa SAB (KOF.MX) to sell its soy
beverage business in Latin America for $575 million as the
Anglo-Dutch company continues to shuffle its arsenal of brands.
Unilever shares were up 0.8% in London trading to GBP31.73
($46.35).
The beverage business, called Adesad, sells drinks that are a
combination of soy milk and fruit juice. It has a presence in
Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, and
Colombia.
"This sale is a step in reshaping our portfolio in Latin America
to deliver sustainable growth for Unilever and enables us to
sharpen our focus, said Miguel Kozuszok, executive vice president
of Latin America for Unilever.
Unilever has been shedding food brands in recent years and
making acquisitions in the higher-margin personal care space under
Chief Executive Paul Polman, a strategy analysts have said gives it
stronger growth prospects.
The company in 2014 agreed to sell its North American pasta
sauces business under the Ragu and Bertolli brands to Japan's
Mizkan Group for $2.15 billion, and prior to that sold its
Wish-Bone salad dressing to Pinnacle Foods Inc. for $580 million
and Skippy peanut butter to Hormel Foods Corp. for $700
million.
Write to Saabira Chauduri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 01, 2016 10:06 ET (14:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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