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Drinks

Britvic And AG Barr Agree Merger

By square1
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Britvic And AG Barr Agree Merger

Rival soft-drink producers A.G. Barr and Britvic have announced an all-share merger of the two companies to form a combined entity. The new group, Barr Britvic Soft Drinks plc, will be one of Europe's leading soft drinks companies, with annual sales of over £1.5 billion.

Britvic shareholders will own about 63 per cent of the new company, with the rest to be held by A.G. Barr shareholders. This is in line with the market values of the two respective groups.

Among the portfolio of brands of the new company will be Britvic's J20, Robinsons, Tango and Lipton Ice Tea while A.G. Barr brings to the table the iconic Irn-Bru, as well as Orangina and Rubicon. The benefits of joining forces are "enhanced routes to market", an enhanced presence in France and Ireland, and increased international distribution of A-brands.

The statement from Britvic read, "The combination has compelling commercial and industrial logic given the high level of complementarity between the two businesses in terms of brands, sales channel presence and geographic presence within the United Kingdom."

Britvic has an existing relationship with PepsiCo, including exclusive bottling and distribution rights in Britain and Ireland for brands such as Pepsi, 7UP and Mountain Dew. The company said it has agreed to "certain variations" in its deal with Pepsi in order to keep the agreement in place, but did not give details of what the "variations" entail.

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Barr Britvic Soft Drinks will be headed up by AG Barr CEO Roger White, with Britvic's finance director John Gibney stepping in as CFO. (14 Nov)

© 2012 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine

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