Acquisition to be completed in May this year

COCA-COLA Europacific Partners will be the name of the company as the two businesses – Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd and CocaCola European Partners – merge after the completion of the acquisition in May.

The acquisition was announced through the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPX) last week and had said in Fiji, Amatil (through a holding company) owned CocaCola Amatil (Fiji) Pte Ltd, which in turn owned 89.6 per cent of the shares in Paradise Beverages (Fiji) Ltd (PBF).

In response to questions on the acquisition, CCAMATIL said Coca-Cola Europacific Partners would be the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottler and one of the leading FMCG companies in the world and the company would employ more than 33,000 people (including more than 250 in Fiji), serving approximately two million customers in 26 countries.

“It remains firmly business as usual as we continue to deliver on our existing strategy underpinned by a focus on our customers, partners, people and communities,” it said.

Sympathising with the situation the company said: “Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by COVID-19 during this unprecedented time. It’s a challenging period for us all and our focus has been on protecting the health and safety of our people, our business and supporting our customers, both large and small.”

CCAMATIL highlighted that as with many other businesses within Fiji, the lack of tourism had resulted in a negative impact to their business.

“In 2020 we reported declines in volume, revenue and EBIT due to the adverse impacts of COVID-19 related international travel restrictions on the Fijian economy.

“We’re proud to say that we’ve kept all of our people employed during this challenging time and have continued supporting our numerous community and sustainability commitments (where we can safely do so) such as Mission Pacific and our long term sponsorship partnerships.”