The Mexican soft drinks bottler, Coca-Cola Femsa, has completed the purchase of US-based Latin American soft drinks company, Panamerican Beverages (Panamco).
The merger will make Coca-Cola Femsa, which is 30% owned by Coca-Cola Co. and 51%-owned by the Mexican brewer, Femsa, the largest soft drink bottler in Latin America with annual revenues of US$4.6 billion. The company will also be the world’s second largest bottler of Coke brands.
However, some analysts have expressed concern over the debt levels the merged company will face. Coca-Cola Femsa said it is partly financing the acquisition by issuing about US$960m in bonds, in Mexican pesos, with some US$408m of this total issued in April.
“Investors still have not really digested well how KOF will generate cash flow in new markets and that will give us an idea of how it can go about reducing its debt,” said Manuel Jimenez, an analyst with the broker, Vector.
