FDBusiness.com

PepsiCo is acquiring a 66% stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, Russia’s leading branded food and beverages company, for $3.8b, pending the required government approvals. Wimm-Bill-Dann is a leader in both traditional and value-added dairy products, with a solid position in juice.

The transaction will establish PepsiCo as the largest food-and-beverage business in Russia, make it a leader in the country’s fast-growing dairy category and build its presence in key markets in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It will also raise PepsiCo’s annual global revenues from nutritious and functional foods from approximately $10b today to nearly $13b. This moves the US-based beverages and snacks group closer to its strategic goal of building a $30b nutrition business by 2020.

“Adding Wimm-Bill-Dann to PepsiCo’s portfolio is financially attractive and gives us a strong, high-growth platform in the dairy category,” says Indra Nooyi, chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo. “It also gives us clear leadership in the food and beverage industry in Russia, a fast-growing, strategically important market offering abundant opportunity. At the same time, Wimm-Bill-Dann’s strong, value-added dairy business immediately advances our global nutrition strategy to provide consumers around the world nutritious foods and beverages that are accessible, affordable and advantaged by science. Dairy has a huge, untapped potential to bridge snacks and beverages. We see the emerging opportunity to ‘snackify’ beverages and ‘drinkify’ snacks as the next frontier in food and beverage convenience.”

Wimm-Bill-Dann was founded just 18 years ago with a handful of employees. Today the group employs over 16,000 people and operates 38 production facilities.

The integration of Wimm Bill Dann is expected to yield pre-tax annual synergies of approximately $100m by 2014. The completed transaction will bring together PepsiCo’s large global food and beverage brands (Pepsi-Cola, Lipton and Lay’s), its Russian juice and water brands (Fruktovi Sad, Ya, Tonus, Hrusteam and Aqua Minerale) and Wimm-Bill-Dann’s portfolio of leading dairy and juice brands (Domik v Dorevne, Chudo, Imunele, J7, Lubimy Sad, 100% Gold Premium and Agusha).

Upon completion of the full Wimm-Bill-Dann acquisition, PepsiCo’s brands will rank first among food and beverage companies operating in Russia, with approximately $5b in revenue. PepsiCo will have six of the twenty largest food and beverage brands in Russia.

PepsiCo will be approximately twice the size of its nearest food and beverage competitor in Russia, with an unmatched distribution platform for its products. PepsiCo will employ approximately 31,000 people in Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia and have 49 manufacturing facilities, making the company one of the largest food and beverage employers in the region.