CONGLOMERATE Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) has teamed up with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC (CCEP) to buy Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. for $1.8 billion.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, AEV said that together with CCEP, it had entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to jointly acquire Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBP) from The Coca-Cola Company “on a debt-free cash-free basis.”
Debt-free cash-free basis means AEV and CCEP won’t assume the debts of CCBP or get to keep any leftover cash.
AEV said it was in advanced discussions with CCEP on the potential joint transaction that would see CCEP owning 60 percent and AEV 40 percent of CCBP.
“If completed, the proposed acquisition would build on AEV’s portfolio diversification strategy to enter the branded consumer goods space and on CCEP’s successful expansion into the Asia-Pacific region via its acquisition of Coca-Cola Amatil in 2021,” AEV said.
CCBP has 73 production lines and 19 plants in the Philippines. It services more than one million outlets. The company has over 9,000 employees.
The proposed acquisition is still subject to confirmatory due diligence, AEV and CCEP board approvals, the parties signing the definitive agreements, and the receipt of governmental and regulatory approvals.
But the parties expect to close the transaction this year.
AEV has investments in power, banking and financial services, food, infrastructure, land, and data science and artificial intelligence, while CCEP serves 600 million consumers as one of the world’s leading consumer goods companies.
Separately, CCEP said the acquisition would position it as the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottler by both revenue and volume as the proposed acquisition would build on its successful expansion into Australia, Pacific and Indonesia in 2021.