Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft-drink maker, has bought a minority stake in Innocent, a UK-based maker of fruit smoothies and vegetable dishes.
Innocent, which sells about 2 million smoothies a week, plans to use the £30 million (€33.14 million) investment to expand its European sales, the London-based company said last night on its website.
The company currently sells its products in about 13 countries.
Coca-Cola’s stake in Innocent comes after its $2.3 billion bid for China’s largest juice maker was rejected last month by the Ministry of Commerce over competition concerns.
The Atlanta- based company was looking to almost double its juice market share by buying China Huiyuan Juice Group as it competes with PepsiCo.
Reuters
