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Coca-Cola said weighing bid for F&N beverage unit

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Coca-Cola said weighing bid for F&N beverage unit Empty Coca-Cola said weighing bid for F&N beverage unit

Post by hlk Fri 03 Aug 2012, 08:23

COCA-COLA Co, the world's largest soft-drinks maker, is exploring a bid
for the bevera-ge business of Singapore's Fraser and Neave Ltd,
according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

A
bid for the F&N business held under F&N Foods Pte and Kuala
Lumpur-listed Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd may pit Coca-Cola against
Japan's Kirin Holdings Co, which is also considering making an offer.

The
operations would give Coca-Cola chief executive officer Muhtar Kent the
biggest share of soft-drink sales in Malaysia and Singapore, according
to Euromonitor International data. The unit, including F&N's dairy
and soft-drinks businesses, may be worth as much as US$3 billion
(RM9.39 billion), said two of the people, who asked not to be named as
the process is private.

"It's a very dominant player in
Malaysia," said Lim Jit Soon, Singapore-based analyst at Nomura
Holdings Inc. "They have a very strong brand in 100-PLUS, which is
recognised around the region," Lim said, referring to F&N's sports
drink brand.



F&N also owns a real- estate business with shopping centres,
serviced apartments and industrial property. Real estate accounted for
S$2.1 billion (RM5.27 billion) in sales last year, 34 per cent of the
total, data show. Dairy business sales were S$1.1 billion in 2011,
while the soft drinks unit had S$759 million of revenue, the data show.

Coca-Cola hasn't made a decision and is waiting to see what other suitors do, said another person.

F&N
yesterday requested a halt in trading of its shares pending an
announcement. Jennifer Yu, a spokeswoman for F&N, declined to
comment on Coca-Cola's interest or the reasons for the trading halt.
Kent Landers, a spokesman for Coca-Cola, said he couldn't comment on
market speculation, and Kirin spokeswoman Nahoko Abe also declined to
comment.

Coca-Cola and Kirin are considering bids for F&N's
food and drinks business after Heineken, the world's third-biggest
brewer, last month offered as much as S$7.5 billion to take over a
brewer that is jointly run by the Dutch company and F&N. F&N
owns 40 per cent of Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd, while Heineken owns 42
per cent. APB, which brews Tiger beer and Heineken, was also halted
yesterday in Singapore.

"If you agree to sell Asia Pacific
Breweries, it would seem perfectly natural to sell other parts of the
businesses too," said Jonathan Foster, Singapore-based director of
Global Special Situations at Religare Capital Markets. "There is a
bigger game other than APB being played out here."

The Dutch
brewer's July 20 bid came two days after Thai Beverage pcl, the brewer
of Chang Thai Beer, struck a deal to buy a 22 per cent stake in
F&N. At the same time, a company affiliated with ThaiBev's
billionaire owner Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi purchased almost 9 per cent
of APB. Bloomberg
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