The Australian soft drinks group, Coca-Cola Amatil, has hinted that it might speed up the development of one of its own brands, Fruitopia, if its proposed takeover of the juice group, Berri, does not go ahead.
Amatil’s CEO, Terry Davis, said that negotiations with Berri were on hold while regulatory authorities scrutinised the deal. A decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission could be as long as four weeks away.
“We are already in juice, we have a brand called Fruitopia,” Davis said. “It’s just a question of whether we gear that brand up further and take it into different outlets. At the moment it’s just a single serve product; it’s not a supermarket product.”
