Coca-Cola Refreshments (CCR), a subsidiary of Coca-Cola, is planning to sell nine bottling facilities that are valued at around $380m.

Coca-Cola's bottlers Coca-Cola Bottling Co Consolidated (Consolidated), Coca-Cola Bottling Company United (United) and Swire Coca-Cola USA (Swire) will acquire the plants from CCR.

The facilities being acquired are located in the states of Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, Arizona and Colorado.

These plants will be transferred from CCR to the bottlers between 2016 and 2018.

Additionally, Coca-Cola, along with Consolidated, United, Swire and CCR, will form a new National Product Supply System (NPSS) in the US.

The NPSS will allow the bottlers to achieve the lowest optimal manufactured and delivered costs, as well as enable investment to build sustainable capability and competitive advantage, the company said.

The bottlers will also be able to meet customer and consumer requirements by prioritizing quality, service and innovation, as part of the new supply group.

Coca-Cola North America executive vice-president and president Sandy Douglas said: "The National Product Supply System will benefit all of our US bottling partners by driving our production system to manufacture products at the lowest optimal cost.

"The board of the NPSG will focus on infrastructure planning, innovation planning, and optimal sourcing. Importantly, we believe the NPSS structure allows us to leverage our significant system scale with the unique competitive advantage of being able to act with speed. This will be enabled by the outstanding commercial capabilities of a strong local bottling system."

In August, European bottlers Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), Coca-Cola Iberian Partners (CCIP) and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke (CCEAG) have agreed to form a new company by merging their bottling operations.

 

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