Coca-Cola Europacific Eyes Takeover of Coca-Cola's $1.8 Billion Philippines Bottling Business

By Joe Hoppe

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners said Wednesday that it is considering together with Aboitiz Equity Ventures to buy Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines from The Coca-Cola Company, valuing it at around $1.8 billion.

The London-listed bottling company said the Philippines bottling business shows attractive profitability and growth prospects, and would build upon its own expansion into the Australia, Pacific and Indonesia market that started 2021.

A takeover would be expected to close around the end of 2023. It is still subject to a number of conditions, including due diligence and regulatory approval, and there can be no certainty it will be entered into nor completed, it said.

The European bottler said it has entered a letter of intent and signed a nonbinding term sheet with AEV on the potential joint transaction, based on a 60:40 ownership structure for Coca-Cola Europacific and AEV, respectively.

The agreement implies an enterprise value of $1.8 billion on a debt-free, cash-free basis for the Philippines business. The consideration would be paid in cash.

The proposed acquisition would position Coca-Cola Europacific as the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler by both revenue and volume.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 02, 2023 03:32 ET (07:32 GMT)

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