Quadrant European Beverages (QEB), a company registered in Cyprus, held by businessman Eli Davidai, will acquire Agrima, the Pepsi bottler in Bulgaria, together with Pepsi Americas, for approximately 10 million euros, according to sources from the market. This is the first acquisition made by QEB on the Bulgarian market.
The same sources say Davidai will control 80% of Agrima's shareholders, with the remaining 20% to be taken over by the second largest Pepsi-Cola bottler in the world, Pepsi Americas, with the transaction to be completed within the next two weeks. Contacted by ZF, businessman Eli Davidai declined to comment on this information.
Agrima sells the Pepsi, 7up, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Prisum, Diva, Aqua Diva, Evervess and Gatorade soft drink brands on the Bulgarian market, and is the second largest soft drinks bottler in Bulgaria after Coca-Cola. On the Romanian market, the bottling and distribution licence for Pepsi soft drinks is held by Quadrant-Amroq Bottling Company Limited (QABCL), a company registered in the UK, which controls 99% of the shares of Quadrant-Amroq Bottling (QAB), the producer and distributor of Pepsi soft drinks in Romania and Moldova. QABCL is run by Israeli businessman Eli Davidai.
Pepsi Americas acquired 51% of QAB's shares halfway through last year, for 98 million dollars (approximately 80 million euros), after in 2005, the company had taken over 49% in QAB's shares for 51 million dollars (42 million euros). In addition to the value of the transaction, of 150 million dollars (around 120 million euros), a debt of the QAB company was added, standing at 55.4 million dollars (44.3 million euros), putting the total value of the takeover at over 200 million dollars (164 million euros), according to information provided by Pepsi Americas shareholders.
Businessman Eli Davidai, chairman and former shareholder of QAB, remained a partner and a consultant for QAB after its takeover by Pepsi Americas. The leading players on the Romanian soft drinks market are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Americas, European Drinks, Romaqua and Parmalat. This year's prolonged summer could bring the full-year sales of the ten largest players on the soft drinks market to over one billion euros, according to ZF estimates.
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