Coca-Cola Hellenic buys out Acque Minerali

By Demetra Manifava

Local Coke bottler Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCHBC) has made its second buyout of 2019, acquiring Italy’s Acque Minerali, which is active in the domain of bottled water and refreshments.

The acquisition was implemented by CCHBC’s Italian subsidiary, Coca-Cola HBC Italia Srl, in cooperation with The Coca-Cola Company, and the price came to 88 million euros. The seller is holding company IDeA Taste of Italy, and the completion of the transaction is expected by the end of the year.

The buyout of Acque Minerali will complete the Athens-listed company’s portfolio in Italy and is seen serving its strategy of covering consumers’ needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This way CCHBC is also implementing its target of strengthening its portfolio with high-added-value products. In Italy CCHBC already owns the water brands Lilia and Sveva.

This follows the acquisition of Serbian sweet and savory snack company Bambi for 260 million euros.

CCHBC ended the first half of the year with net sales of 3.35 billion euros, up 3.8 percent from 2018, while its sales volume grew 2.2 percent year-on-year to 1.09 million euros. Net profits slid 10.1 percent due to the costly restructuring of the group.