Coca-Cola to buy Oklahoma bottler Great Plains for $360 million
27 Oct 2011
Coca-Cola, the world's largest carbonated soft drink maker, today said it will buy Great Plains Coca-Cola Bottling Co, an independent US bottler, for $360 million, the latest bottler it is acquiring to take control of sales in its home market.
The acquisition comes after the $35 billion soft drink giant bought its largest bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (CCE) last year in a deal valued at $3.4 billion.
Great Plains is the fifth-largest independent Coke bottler in the US, and serves territories with more than 3 million people in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
It is operated by the Browne family since 1922 and has been distributing Coca-Cola products in central, northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Great Plains operates two production and seven distribution facilities and employs more than 1,200 people. Great Plains was voted "Bottler of the Year" in 2007 by Beverage World Magazine.
Atlanta-Georgia-based Coca-Cola has abandoned its earlier strategy of keeping its bottling operations separate from its main soft drink business in order to concentrate on marketing, sales and bringing out newer products.
Coca-Cola had first pioneered the strategy of keeping its bottling operations separate from its main soft drink business and hived off CCE in 1986. CCE went public in the same year, with Coca-Cola taking a 34 per cent stake, becoming the largest shareholder of CCE.