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Coca-Cola acquires Aslan group's assets

Recorder Report

Lahore: Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL) has announced that it has acquired the assets of the Aslan Group of Bottles in Pakistan.

While addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, John Guarino, President of the Coca-Cola Company, Middle East and North Africa Division, said that earlier the group, which included bottle operations in Rahim Yar Khan, Multan and Lahore, was producing 30 percent of the Coca-Cola products sold in Pakistan. The deal makes Coca-Cola, through CCPBL, one of the largest foreign investors in Pakistan.

He said that the acquisition marks a new era for Coca-Cola in Pakistan and signals the company's growing confidence in the improved business climate in the country. He said that Pakistan was the most suitable place for investment that was why Coca-Cola had decided to invest in the country.

John Guarino explained that the deal follows the acquisition by CCBPL, in September 1999, of the assets of the Faisablabad bottling operation and is the second significant deal since the Coca-Cola Company took over the controlling interest of CCBPL from the previous majority shareholder, Singapore-based Fraser and Neave Limited (F&N) in June of last year. The remaining stake in CCBPL is held by the Packages Pakistan Limited, he added.

He said that the acquisitions by CCBPL are consistent with the company's long-term strategy of investing in certain strategic bottling operations to maximise the quality, strength and efficiency of production, distribution and marketing systems to enable the company to deliver the highest quality products.

Talking to newsmen, he said that the price could not be reduced because of high taxation and duties in the country. He said that the company has to bear 27 to 30 percent taxation at the retail level.

"We have enormous confidence in our future growth prospects in Pakistan; and this announcement is evidence that conditions are now right for us to build up a substantial local business operation here and focus our activities locally. Our investment has not only created an engine for the growth of our business, but also gives a clear signal to the international business community that Pakistan offers great opportunities," John Guarino said.

Mujib Khan, Country Manager, Asadullah Shirazee, General Manager, and Philippe Georgio, Business and Development Manager, were also present on the occasion.