PEPSICO AND ITS BOTTLERS

So far I have yet to see a single commentator assess the international dimension of PepsiCo’s recent bid to bring in its bottlers Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. But this could be as big a deal as what happens in the United States. Let’s look at some simple facts. Pepsi Bottling Group also operates in Russia and Spain as well as Canada and Mexico. PepsiAmericas has interests in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Ukraine as well as the Caribbean. So PepsiCo buys in a weak financial market. It reconfigures its West and East European bottling activities around Britvic in the UK and Ireland and two or three newly created regional groups. In a few years, these new groups plus American bottling are then spun off for twice the amount or more in much stronger financial markets. Meanwhile, Pepsi can instil best practice management and standard systems throughout and put everything in vastly superior shape to what it inherits. Makes sense to me.