The two companies have jointly acquired 100% of CCBPI from The Coca-Cola Company: resulting in a 60:40 ownership structure between CCEP and AEV.
The $1.8bn deal helps CCEP build on its expansion into Australia, Pacific and Indonesia: following the 2021 acquisition of bottler Coca-Cola Amatil (the Australia, Pacific and Indonesia division is now renamed as Australia, Pacific and South East Asia).
It makes Coca-Cola Europacific Partners the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottler by both revenue and volume: with an increased focus in the growing Asian markets.
Building up a global playbook
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners was created in 2021 with the then Coca-Cola European Partners acquiring Coca-Cola Amatil for $9.93bn AUD: creating the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottler with 33,000 employees.
Combining Coca-Cola European Partners (itself created via the merger of three European bottlers back in 2015) with Coca-Cola Amatil into Coca-Cola Europacific Partners brought the European and Asia Pacific markets together: with a footprint now covering 26 countries and some 600 million consumers.
- The Philippines is the 2nd largest market in Southeast Asia: with a large and growing population (115m people make it the 13th largest globally)
- It has stable GDP growth of around 6% and a fast-growing middle class. The market for soft drinks is estimated at around $8bn, with 10% growth in value per annum expected.
- Coca-Cola Philippines has 19 manufacturing plants and around 9,000 employees.
"Since the Amatil acquisition in 2021 we have been able to drive faster and more sustainable growth, as a larger, more diverse business," said Damian Gammell, CEO of CCEP.
"It almost doubled our consumer reach and increased the number of customers we serve from 1.1 million to 2 million.
"With the addition of the Philippines, our reach and scale has increased again – with around €20bn in revenue and 4 billion unit cases sold each year.
"CCBPI consistently delivers strong results and has great growth prospects.
"We are confident that together with the team in CCBPI and AEV, we’ll continue the growth momentum in the Philippines and write our next shared chapter."
CCEP sees the opportunity to take its 'proven playbook' in Europe and apply it to markets which are already largely developed and therefore similar in nature - and yet with the added attraction of 'higher underlying growth fundamentals' in the population growth and increasing disposable incomes.
The acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines (initially announced in August last year) creates not only the opportunity to grow in the Philippines but also leverage insights to help growth in Indonesia (a key growth market for CCEP thanks to its fast-growing, populous nature).
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ 5-point strategic rationale for acquiring Coca-Cola Philippines
- Further diversification opportunity, underpinning CCEP’s mid-term objectives
- Acquisition of a majority stake in ‘an established and well-run business in a highly attractive and growing market’
- An opportunity to leverage best practice and talent, including supporting the ‘transformation journey’ in Indonesia.
- Creation of a ‘strong local partner with a shared focus on people, sustainability and a long-term mindset
- Further strengthened relationship with The Coca-Cola Company.
