Europe to take over Australian Coke business for $9.3 billion
Coca-Cola Amatil has agreed to $9.3 billion takeover from Europe’s Coca-Cola European Partners.
CCA said this morning that the offer was for $12.75 a share cash for the 69.2 per cent of the company not owned by major shareholder, The Coca-Cola Co.
A separate transaction will be done to buy the 30 per cent stake from the US-based parent, The Coca-Cola Co. That second transaction would be on less-favourable terms than the one presented to CCA shareholders.
The deal still needs shareholder approval as well as the tick from the Foreign Investment Review Board, but has been backed by the board, including the independent directors.
The European company had been courting CCA for some time and CCA said it had rejected previous offers.
The offer is well above the current trading price of $10.75, but CCA was trading at $13.18 in February before the pandemic hit.
The offer came as CCA released its trading update which said conditions had improved in the September quarter.
It said volume was down 5.4 per cent on the same period last year while revenue of $1.1 billion was down 4.2 per cent.
CCA said there was continued improvement in Australia and New Zealand as the recovery gathers pace.
