Coca-Cola mergers: could this affect competition in Spain? Will the price of Coca-Cola rise in the Spanish market?

A few days ago in Atlanta, Coca-Cola announced the merger of its European bottlers Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke AG, which will create The Coca-Cola Company's largest independent bottler in the world by net revenue. The deal is led by Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, the Spanish bottler controlled by the Daurella family, which will also chair the new group. Coca-Cola Iberian Partners' shareholders will hold a 34% stake, the Atlanta multinational (The Coca-Cola Company) will have 18% and Coca-Cola Enterprises' shareholders will share the remaining 48%.

As well as holding the chair through Sol Daurella, the Spanish bottler will bring four more members to the board of directors and senior management, among them Víctor Rufart, who will be Chief Integration Officer. The new group, headquartered in London, will be listed on the Amsterdam, Madrid and New York stock exchanges.

The new Coca-Cola European Partners born from the merger will serve a market of 300 million consumers in thirteen territories in Western Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Iceland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. It starts life with a valuation of close to 20,000 million euros and combined revenues of around 12,600 million dollars (some 11,600 million euros). It will have 50 plants in 13 countries and around 27,000 employees.

The merger is driven by the Atlanta multinational itself, which is keen to simplify its structure in Europe. Its preparation explains the recent corporate moves around Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, as La Vanguardia reported on 29 July. The Daurella family, owner of Cobega (the original bottler for Catalonia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands), took majority control of Coca-Cola Iberian Partners with an investment of 800 million euros that raised its stake from 42% to 55%. Another of the historic Spanish bottling families, the Gómez-Trenor family (founders of Valencia-based Colebega), have also increased their stake, from 20% to 25%, in this case for around 200 million euros.

Coca-Cola Iberian Partners, formed in 2013 from the merger of the multinational's seven franchise bottlers operating in Spain, Portugal and Andorra, is chaired by Sol Daurella Comadrán, who is also chair of Cobega. With sales of 3,010 million and a net profit of 177 million in 2014, Coca-Cola Iberian Partners is the sixth-largest Coca-Cola bottler in the world. The Daurella family's close ties with Atlanta's senior management are also well known. They are partners in Equatorial Bottling Company, a joint venture (70% Cobega, 30% The Coca-Cola Export Co) set up in 1997 and based in Barcelona, which operates in 13 countries in North and West Africa and posted sales of 576 million euros in 2013. The Daurellas also own 100% of the Icelandic bottler Vífilfel (turnover of 43.8 million in 2013). The family has other businesses too, such as the distribution of Nespresso in Spain, as well as food businesses (Copesco and Sefrisa, and 50% of Cacaolat, together with Damm).

Coca-Cola Enterprises, for its part, is a US-listed company currently responsible for the soft drink multinational's production in eight European countries (France, the United Kingdom, Benelux, Norway, Sweden). Germany's Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke is the result of the 2007 union of the independent German franchise bottlers into a company directly controlled by the American multinational.
Headquartered in Berlin with 9,500 employees, the company is this year optimising its infrastructure and recently announced plans to close some beverage bottling and logistics facilities.

Source: http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20150806/54435669054/coca-cola-anuncia-fusion-siete-embotelladoras-europeas.html#ixzz3jpn8mM2A
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