Business

Mexico approves 3-way Coca-Cola bottler merger

HISPANICVISTA - May 7, 2001 - Reuters news service reported that Mexico's anti-trust watchdog gave the green light to a merger of Mexico's Embotelladoras Argos with two other Coca-Cola  bottlers, which creates the nation's No.2 bottler of the popular soft drink.

The Federal Competition Commission (CFC) said it authorized the transaction because it saw no threat to free competition as a result of the merger, according to Reuters.

Argos said in January that it had started talks to join forces with bottlers Proyeccion Corporativa (Procor) and Empresas El Carmen (Arma).

Procor operates in the northern states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, while Arma has plants in the northern states of Coahuila, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa and Baja California Sur.

Argos, meanwhile, has bottling facilities in Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California.

The new company had planned to list shares on the stock market, though under a different name.

Analysts have said the annual sales of the three companies hover around 440 million boxes containing 24 bottles each , including bottled water. The level is close to the 480 million boxes of Coca-Cola Femsa (KOF) , Mexico's principal Coke bottler.