European bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices, Refresco Gerber has signed an agreement to acquire the bottling facility in Hamburg, Germany from food and beverage company PepsiCo in a bid to strengthen its co-bottling activities.
The acquisition part of Refresco Gerber's 'buy and build strategy' and is and is subject to the approval of German competition authorities. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Refresco Gerber CEO Hans Roelofs: "This transaction lies at the heart of our buy & build strategy and confirms our focus on expanding our co-packing business.
"It further strengthens our relationship with one of our key customers PepsiCo, for whom we already provide co-packing activities in France, Spain, Benelux and the UK.
"Germany is an important region for Refresco Gerber and with this acquisition, we take an important leap forward in our German co-packing activities and further improve our market presence."
As per the deal, Refresco Gerber will have a ten-year co-packing agreement in Germany with PepsiCo, which offers brands including Pepsi, Punica and Lipton in the European market.
Refresco expects the deal to further boost its operations in the soft drinks and fruit juices market in the country.
The transaction is planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2016.
In 2015, Refresco Gerber has announced its plan to sell around 50% of the company through an initial public offering. The IPO would value its equity at $1.13bn to $1.37bn, reported Reuters earlier.
Netherlands-based Refresco Gerber has operations in the Benelux, France, Germany, Iberia, Italy, the UK, Poland and Finland.
