TORONTO and TAMPA, FL, U.S. – Cott Corporation today announced that the United Kingdom (“UK”) Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has today accepted in principle the remedy offered by Refresco on January 10, 2018 in regards to Cott’s previously announced sale of its traditional beverage manufacturing business (“Cott Beverages”) to Refresco (Euronext: RFRG) for USD $1.25 billion.
On January 3, 2018, Refresco was informed by the CMA that the acquisition of Cott Beverages by Refresco raised potential competition concerns in the UK for one specific product category, namely “from concentrate” juice drinks in PET using a special aseptic production process that allows them to be sold preservative-free without refrigeration (APET).
In the UK, the combined company produces these products in only two factories, Bridgwater (Refresco) and Nelson (Cott).
Refresco, in consultation with Cott, offered a remedy that principally consisted of the sale to a suitable purchaser of the APET facility at the Nelson site to address the concerns raised by the CMA. Refresco has appointed Rabobank to lead the sales process.
Following the closing of the transaction, which Refresco anticipates will occur on January 30, 2018, Refresco will be required to hold the Cott UK operations separately until all CMA requirements are met, while the other jurisdictions will begin integration shortly after the closing.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Jerry Fowden, Chief Executive Officer of Cott, said “We are excited to move forward in this process.
With Refresco announcing their expectation to close on the transaction at the end of January, we will soon have a much stronger balance sheet and we can fully dedicate our focus on the growth and expansion of our route based services business in water, coffee, tea and filtration solutions.”
