Image used for illustrative purpose. A view of Coca-Cola bottles at the opening ceremony of a Coca-Cola factory outside of Yangon June 4, 2013. Soe Zeya Tun Coca-Cola Co, based in Atlanta, US, could quaff €7bn ($8.1bn) when it lists its African bottling operations with an initial public offering. It owns 66.5% of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), after it bought out Anheuser-Busch InBev’s share for $3.15bn in 2016. The other shareholder in CCBA is South Africa’s Gutsche Family Investments, led by Philipp Gutsche.
In April 2021, Coca- Cola announced plans to list CCBA shares within 18 months, with a primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam and a secondary listing in Johannesburg.
CCBA has 20,000 employees and operates in 14 countries, making up 40% of the volume of Coca-Cola products sold in Africa. Its headquarters will stay in South Africa. It said Rothschild & Co would advise.
Bruno Pietracci, president of the Africa operating unit, said: “The Coca-Cola Company sees Africa as a key growth market and views a separate listing of CCBA as an opportunity to deliver a broad, supportive, long-term investor base for the ongoing development of the business.”
In January 2022 Coca- Cola held a virtual capital markets day to highlight progress and the growth opportunity to potential investors. It has a strong record of profitable growth in hard currency and feels there are good reasons for optimism about future growth.
The company said:
“Over recent years, CCBA outperformed all the listed Coca-Cola bottlers by volume growth, outside of the Covid-19-impacted 2020, and believes it can continue this outperformance.”
Coca-Cola’s sparkling soft-drink brands include Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta; hydration, sports, coffee and tea brands include Powerade and Costa; and nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverage brands including Minute Maid, Simply, Innocent and Del Valle.
Reports said the IPO advisers would include Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley and Standard Bank Group.
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