Bottler CCEP Proposes Joint Acquisition Of Coca-Cola's Philippines Business For $1.8B

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC CCEP and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc ABOIF inked a letter of intent to jointly acquire Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines from The Coca-Cola Company KO for $1.8 billion.

With this deal, CCEP plans to diversify its footprint within its existing API business segment and position itself as the world's largest Coca-Cola bottler by both revenue and volume.

Post-acquisition, the ownership structure between CCEP and AEC will be 60:40.

CCEP expects its Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA range to return to the top end of the guided range of 2.5x-3.0x by the end-FY23 instead of FY24 (as earlier expected).

The transaction is expected to close around the end of FY23.

Apart from this, CCEP also reported H1 FY23 revenue growth of 8.5% Y/Y to €8.98 billion and EPS increase of 27.5% Y/Y to €1.86.

Comparable free cash flow stood at €850 million. 

FY23 Outlook: The company raised guidance for comparable revenue growth to 8%-9% (from 6%-8% previously), comparable operating profit growth of 12%-13% (from 6%-7% earlier), and FCF to at least €1.7 billion (from at least €1.6 billion earlier).

Price Action: CCEP shares are trading higher by 0.60% at $63.51 premarket on the last check Wednesday.

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