Hellenic Bottling Company

Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC), which holds a franchise for Coca-Cola in Greece, will merge with Molino Beverages Holding of Luxembourg to create a soft drinks bottling group. HBC bottles Coca-Cola in Greece, Armenia, Serbia and Bulgaria while Molino holds franchises for Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, Nigeria, Romania, Moldova and parts of Russia. This merger will increase HBC's market for soft drinks from 33m to almost 200m consumers. The Coca-Cola company holds a 40% stake in a joint venture in Russia with Molino, which has invested $200m in three new bottling plants, one west of Moscow and the others in Siberia. (whole item)